Call To Consider Lowering Age Of Consent For Sex To 15

[Jeevan]

I Britain we raised the age of consent to 16 to protect children from prostitution since 1885! This so called Professor is a disgrace to the interests of children themselves. Has the Professor taken into consideration grooming gangs, has he spoken to the children who are victims of paedophiles? This is a big No.

Sex is not just a physical act it is a mental act as well! The victims of paedophiles with so much mental trauma begin to view the abuse as 'normal'. Has the Professor worked out what is then considered consensual or rape! This is a blurring of legal & moral lines. How do we as adults what is right & wrong and yet alone for a child to make these huge physical & mental decisions?

I'm calling upon this professor to resign and disappear from public life. I'm a liberal at heart but when it comes to children we have to protect them from their own follies sometimes! My argument is for the age of consent to be raised to 18. A 16 year old I would argues whilst they may have the physical capacity have they the mental capacity?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24976929

17 November 2013 Last updated at 08:42

Call to consider lowering age of consent for sex to 15

Lowering the age of consent for sex to 15 should be considered by ministers, a leading public health expert has urged.

Faculty of Public Health president Prof John Ashton said the move would make it easier for 15-year-olds to get sexual health advice from the NHS.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Prof Ashton called for a national debate on the issue.

Children's charity the NSPCC said it wanted to see the evidence for Prof Ashton's claims before any discussion.

Prof Ashton said society sent "confused" signals about when sex was permitted.

Official figures suggest that up to a third of teenagers have sex before the present age of consent of 16.

Prof Ashton said lowering the age by a year could "draw a line in the sand" against sex at 14 or younger.

'Recognise the facts'

The professor said: "We need a debate here. It's time the adults started talking about the situation to take these enormous pressures off children and young people from becoming sexually active too early.

"Also to recognise the facts of what's going on by the age of 14 or 15 so that we can respond helpfully to them and support them on this journey into adult life."

He added: "I suspect we might be better off with it at 15 because the teachers and people who are in contact with young people would feel on a firmer footing pointing them in the right direction where they can get advice and contraception to protect their physical health from disease and other problems."

The Faculty of Public Health, part of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, gives independent advice to the government.

David Tucker, head of policy at the NSPCC, said it would be prepared to engage in debate on the issue after considering Prof Ashton's arguments.

But Mr Tucker added: "Has there really been a significant change in the amount of young people having sex over the past 20 or 30 years? If it has changed, then is reducing the age of consent the most sensible way to deal with it?"

The age of consent in the UK for any kind of sexual activity is 16 for gay and straight men and women.

In England and Wales, the age of sexual consent for women has been set at 16 since 1885, when campaigners fought to raise it from 13 to prevent child prostitution.

Other countries have set the legal age for sexual consent at anything from 12 to 20.

In 2001, the age of consent for gay men in England and Wales was reduced from 18 to 16, bringing it in line with heterosexuals for the first time. Lesbians, who until then faced no statutory age of consent, were also included in that legislation.

Scotland and Northern Ireland made 16 the age of consent for gay and straight men and women later that decade.

[skaur8888]

this really is kaljug, they should be focusing on encouraging children to wait until they're married, not to indulge at even younger ages, world is going mad.

[S4NGH]

Theres no denying many teenagers are having sex well before 16. Lowering the age will only increase/justify acts of rape.

It will not be lowered of course.

[Jeevan]

Patricia Hewitt called for age of consent to be lowered to ten Former Labour cabinet minister apologises for links to paedophile group in 1970s and admits she 'got it wrong'

Former Labour cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt Photo: PAUL GROVER

By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent

8:39AM GMT 28 Feb 2014

Patricia Hewitt was forced to apologise after it was revealed that she had called for the age of sexual consent to be lowered to ten.

The document published in the former Labour cabinet minister’s name also called for incest to be legalised.

A National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) press release quoted in The Sun issued in Miss Hewitt’s sole name in Mach 1976 read: “NCCL proposes that the age of consent should be lowered to 14, with special provision for situations where the partners are close in age or where the consent of a child over ten can be proved.”

The document, which relates to an NCCL report on sexual law reformed continues: "The report argues that the crime of incest should be abolished.

“In our view, no benefit accrues to anyone by making incest a crime when committed between mutually consenting persons over the age of consent.”

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Miss Hewitt, who was general secretary of the NCCL from 1974 to 1983 said: "I take responsibility for the mistakes we made. I got it wrong on PIE and I apologise for having done so.

Miss Hewitt finally broke her silence and apologised for her role in the scandal after The Telegraph asked her to explain why the NCCL of which she was general secretary had pledged it’s “protection and support” for prominent paedophile group the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE).

Miss Hewitt said she had been out of the country for the past 12 days as the scandal over the links has been growing and apologised for her association with the group.

She said: “NCCL in the 1970s, along with many others, was naïve and wrong to accept PIE's claim to be a ‘campaigning and counselling organisation that ‘does not promote unlawful acts’.

"I should have urged the council to take strong measures to protect NCCL’s integrity from the activities of PIE members and sympathisers and I deeply regret not having done so."

Miss Hewitt later became press secretary to Labour leader Neil Kinnock. She was an MP for 13 years to 2010 and served as a Health Secretary in the last Labour government.

Her admissions place further pressure on Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour Leader who served as legal officer for the NCCL from 1976 to offer a full apology for her own links to the paedophile organisation.

Miss Hewitt’s frank admission that “got it wrong” contrasts sharply with Miss Harman’s insistence that she has “nothing to apologise for.”

Miss Harman has insisted that PIE was confronted by NCCL in 1976 and “pushed them to the margins.”

However pressure was building on her to offer a full apology over links. Rob Wilson, the Tory MP for Reading East, said: “It is right and welcome that Patricia Hewitt has apologised.

“It makes it hard to see why others involved would not wish to do the same.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10666875/Patricia-Hewitt-called-for-age-of-consent-to-be-lowered-to-ten.html

[BobbyMann75]

It should Never be lowered.