By Terry Vanderheyden
LONDON, February 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Doctors and nurses are criticizing a move by UK authorities that would compel physicians to disclose underage sex with girls 13 years of age or younger.
The proposed measure is to ensure the safety of girls, as police insist that at 13 or younger, girls who are sexually active are the victims of rape. The 2003 Sexual Offences Act established that 13-year-olds are incapable of consenting to sex. In addition to a compulsory report for girls under 13, girls 14 or 15 are also to be reported if involved sexually with a man who is significantly older.
Several medical groups, including the Royal College of Nursing, the British Medical Association, and the Royal College of GPs, worry that forcing doctors to report under-age sex would expose girls who fear revealing this information to an “explosion” in unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
The recommendations were introduced by Sir Michael Bichard after a series of murders of girls by Ian Huntley in the Soham suburb of Cambridge. Huntley had been involved in a series of relationships with young girls before the murders.
The medical associations cited above wrote a letter to the Health Department suggesting that “The removal from adolescent sexual health services of the strong bias towards confidentiality is likely to delay the stage at which young people seek advice, or cause them to misrepresent their age and circumstances. It is probable that such a policy will deter many young people from asking for help altogether,” they added.
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