Ethico-legal concerns in relation to adolescent sexual intercourse

[摘要] Generally, consensual adolescent sexual intercourse is fraught with a numberof negative outcomes such as socio-economically, where unplannedpregnancies occur, and medically with the spread of sexually transmitteddiseases that require treatment. The Sexual Offences and Related MattersAmendment Act 32 of 2007, hereunder referred to as the Sexual Offences Act('SOA”), criminalised consensual sexual intercourse between adolescentsaged from 12 to less than16 years.Since the inception of the SOA in 2007, there seemed to have been relativelylittle evaluation of the practical effect of sections 15 and 16 of the SOA onsociety. This changed in 2011 when two non-profit organisations, The TeddyBear Clinic for Abused Children and RAPCAN (Resources Aimed at thePrevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) who were the first and secondapplicants respectively, challenged the constitutionality of certain sections ofthe SOA. These sections are:- section 15 – entitled 'Acts of consensual sexual penetration withcertain children (statutory rape)”;- section 16 – entitled 'Acts of consensual sexual violation withcertain children (statutory sexual assault); and- section 56(2) – which deals with defences in respect of sections 15and 16.In October 2013, the Constitutional Court declared sections 15 and 16inconsistent with the Constitution. That declaration was suspended for aperiod of 18 months to enable Parliament to correct the defects in the statute.It is widely known that adolescents still engage in consensual sex with eachother regardless of the law. The issues invite an evaluation of the currentlegislation in the context of the health and social issues that surround them. Inaddition, the impact of the current applicable legislation on the present realismneeds to be scrutinised.It is essential for alternative interventions to be established which will aid inreducing the negative impact of consensual adolescent sexual intercourse.This research report looks at interventions that could be introduced to preventadolescent sexual intercourse and alleviate the negativity of outcomes.Furthermore, the report aims to suggest an ethical, structured approach toreduce the current negative outcomes of adolescent sexual intercourse. Inorder to accomplish this I first describe the legislation that applies toconsensual adolescent sexual intercourse of children between the ages of 12and 16 years old. This brought to the fore the health practitioner’s practicalexperiences of problems associated with this legislation. In addition, I identifyand discuss some ethical problems that health practitioners are confrontedwith in relation to consensual adolescent intercourse, in terms of having tobalance their professional legal and ethical obligations.Finally, I propose some recommendations that will inform educationalorganisations on the relevant information to be included in sexual andreproductive health education campaigns. Furthermore, recommendationsare made to relevant national policy-making departments to make strategicdecisions regarding health and social interventions for adolescent sexual andreproductive health services.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand