by Kara Hart

Created on: July 10, 2008

I believe that the federal government SHOULD NOT set a national age for sexual consent for teens. I am speaking from a teen's point of view and I understand that by setting this age, the federal government is trying to reduce the number of teens that are uneducated or unprepared that become pregnant or inflicted with a sexually transmitted disease, but I do not believe that setting an age requirement would help. Other things have ages requirements that have to be reached before they can do it, like not being able to drink or buy alcohol until you are 21 and not being able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products until you are 18, yet teenagers under the age restrictions still end up smoking and drinking and sometimes stores even sell these things to them because they fail to request for an id upon purchase. Also, some things are completely illegal, such as marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs, but people of all ages still buy, sell, and use these substances. None of the age laws or restrictions work anyways, because people still break the law and then the ones who get caught, end up in jail when people who have done worse crimes like murder and rape should be there instead. It is human instinct to try to challenge laws. Many people feel "There are laws against it, so then there must be something special or dangerous about it", and that's also human instinct too. Even older adults challenge and break laws. Truthfully, if someone wants to do something, they are going to do it no matter what, even if there are laws against it or there is someone standing over their shoulder telling them no. If they want to do it, they don't care who says no, they're going to find a way. I know that if there was an age set for sexual consent for teens and I was underage, I'd still do it if I wanted to. But truthfully, how stupid does it sound to have someone thrown in jail for having sex. No matter what law you set, you will always have people breaking them. The only thing you can do is prepare teens more for sexual experiences and consequences, like more sexual education and better condom availability. Many teenagers today who are having sex young are at an age where they are still unable to get jobs and are not going to ask their parents for money to buy condoms, therefore some prices for condoms are too expensive. And also, its not like there are many condom vending machines, where you pay less than a dollar and is easily affordable to young people, left in bathrooms, which is the easiest way for teens to get to condoms. I believe that in my entire life, I have found one gas station that still has one of those in it, and i got one from it, and it looked like it was from ten years ago. So, if the federal government set an age consent for teens to have sex, it will just be defeating the purpose, because then teens will be afraid to go to jail and will do everything in secret, which to tell you the truth, if I was a parent, I'd rather know what my kids were doing than have them sneaking around behind my back.

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