On 23 September, a Cambridge law professor has appeared on BBC Radio 4 programme Iconoclasts calling for the age of consent for sexual relationships to be lowered.
Professor John Spencer, a law fellow at Selwyn College, Cambridge, argued that the current age of consent, established by the Sexual Offences Act 2003, makes criminals of half the population. He has previously called the current law ‘exceptionally heavy-handed’ and is now advocating reducing the age of consent from 16 to 13.
The professor was eagerly supported by Peter Tatchell, a homosexual rights activist, who is also campaigning to lower the age of sexual consent.
(Click here to read P. Tatchell's arguments and here for a response)
Mr Tatchell said that it is the ‘human right’ of children to have sexual relationship and if there is no harm caused to children by sex, then there should be no crime.
Ed Stourton, the show’s presenter, challenged him saying:
‘Isn’t it right to say that children need to be allowed to develop? Isn’t it something which you have to weigh on the balance against an absolute right to do what they want to do?’
Dr Trevor Stammers, GP and lecturer in healthcare ethics at St Mary's University College, also appearing on the discussion panel, added:
‘I do not understand where does this concept of ‘right’ to sexual intercourse come from. If you regard sex as a ‘right’, then it is somebody else’s responsibility or even duty to provide it. I have no right to demand it from anyone else.’
Before the programme was broadcast, David Davies, Conservative MP, said: ‘I’m astounded that the BBC is giving airtime to someone with such views.
‘It is vital that the law protects vulnerable young people from exploitation by adults. There are already far too many young people having underage sex and we have a terrible record for teenage pregnancies.’
Ann Widdecombe, former Home Office minister, Conservative MP and a Privy Counsellor, has commented on the debate, saying:
'The proposition that the age of consent should be lowered is absolutely appalling. The situation is bad enough at the moment with high rates of teenage pregnancies and sexual diseases. I don't detect a great deal of public support for this. If there was, I would argue that it should be debated. I can only assume the BBC is trying to create the debate.’
Latest figures show that 42,900 under-18s and 8,200 under-16s became pregnant in England and Wales in 2007, with most of the pregnancies ending in abortion. The Government’s controversial teenage pregnancy strategy, which has cost taxpayers more than £300million, was meant to halve the number of conceptions among girls under 18 in England between 1998 and 2010, but teenage pregnancy rates are now higher than they were in 1995, the Daily Mail reported.
Shona Robinson, a Scottish Health Minister and MP for Dundee East, speaking at the World Health Organisation’s first pan-European event in Edinburgh earlier this week said that politicians have a duty to intervene to reduce teenage pregnancies. In Scotland, teenage pregnancy rates also remain high. In 2006 and 2007, there were 8.1 pregnancies per 1,000 youngsters under the age of 16.
(See the Scotsman report)
It was reported in July this year that a new study, published online by the British Medical Journal, found that a multi-million pound Government scheme to reduce teenage pregnancies by handing out condoms and encouraging children to talk about sex has, in fact, increased the numbers who became parents.
(See the CCFON report)
Earlier this year an NHS pamphlet aimed at over-14s circulated in Sheffield and caused uproar because it told pupils that they have a right to a good sex life and that enjoyable sex was beneficial to health, adding the rider: ‘An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away.’
(See the CCFON report)
Melanie Phillips, a columnist and author writing for the Daily Mail and Spectator Magazine, wrote:
‘... one of the reasons why so many underage children are having sex is precisely because the law [on the age of consent] is not being enforced. The reasons for this are as various as they are irresponsible. Sex is now viewed as no more than a recreational sport with risks, rather like skiing or horse riding.
‘The collapse of both adult authority and morality has meant schools now invite even very young children to make grotesquely inappropriate selections from a menu card of both heterosexual and same-sex practices.
‘As a result, whereas the protection of the young from sexual predators was once regarded as a progressive act, now it is viewed as a heavy-handed attack on children’s ‘rights’.
‘The result of these and other similarly damaging ideas has been the stratospheric rise in the rates of teenage pregnancy, abortions and sexually transmitted disease among teenagers and children. To abolish what legal protection there is would merely remove all remaining constraints and worsen an already disastrous situation.’
‘So who can be surprised that there now appear to be so many cases of teachers having sexual relationships with their pupils?,’ she added.
(See also Melanie Phillips’ blog)
A BBC spokesman said that the programme is ‘a live discussion with controversial viewpoints’ and added:
‘The programme does not advocate the issue, but is a platform for an individual viewpoint and a starting point for serious debate.’
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