Posted on 03/28/2007 10:39:45 AM PDT by Between the Lines
COLUMBIA - The South Carolina Constitution allows an unmarried 14-year-old woman to legally consent to sex, and some legislators want to do away with what they call an antiquated provision.
A proposal set for debate Tuesday in a Senate committee would let voters decide whether the line should be deleted from the state constitution. The meeting adjourned without any vote on the legislation.
"It's a relic of an era in which women married at 14 and weren't going to college - a preindustrial era when that was the norm," said the bill's main sponsor, Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms. "Certainly, we need to get that out of the constitution."
The rule applies to women only and contradicts state law which sets the age of consent at 16 in most cases. Campsen and other lawmakers fear defense attorneys could take advantage of the inconsistency.
Legislators are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist, prosecutor Trey Gowdy said. In 1936, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the constitutional clause has no bearing on criminal law. "That hasn't been an issue for 71 years," he said.
The 14-year-old "unmarried woman" provision also may violate the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause, Gowdy said.
The Spartanburg-based prosecutor thinks lawmakers have better things to do than concentrate on deleting a line from the state constitution. Instead, he wants them to focus on clarifying state law regarding the age of consent.
Nationwide, the age of consent for sex varies between 16 and 18 years old - the majority at 16. Georgia and North Carolina also allow consensual sex at 16, and in South Carolina, teens can marry at 16, with their parents' permission.
A bill introduced in the House in January would increase South Carolina's age of consent to 18 years old, or 17 if the person has graduated from high school. The legislation stemmed from an investigation at Ware Shoals High School, where authorities said two South Carolina National Guardsmen and a former cheerleading coach each had sex with students, but the adults faced no sex charges because the students were at least 16 - old enough to consent. The bill has not made it out of committee.
Yet there can be no provisions on morality. How can they feel like men having sex with a 14 year old?
A 14-year-old girl cannot give "informed consent" to sex.
No matter HOW much "sex education" she may have had. In the classroom or under the bleachers.
If the male is also 14?
If this "prosecutor" doesn't know enough about the law to understand that the state constitution trumps state statutory law, he has no business drawing a paycheck.
Oddly enough state law says the age of consent is 16. The constitution needs to be fixed before some child molester goes free on a technicality.
Ask any Muslim.... Mohammad was good to go down to nine year olds.
I think the law needs to be changed to in SC to lower the age of female consent to 12. That way, illegal Hispanics with allowed cultural practices from US courts (recent article on FR)will not be in violation of their rights as anti-Americans and 19, or maybe 21 year old males, are free to 'fall-in-love' with children 16 and younger who "consent". Then again, most likely, they'll (the lawmakers) come up with one set of laws for the citizens and another for illegals.
This says far more about the nature of today's "informed" than the age in question. 14 year olds have been perfectly informed of the consequences of sex for centuries, merely by living on farms and in single room dwellings. It is the modern penchant for insulating people from the consequences of their behaviors that has extended adolescence.
No, if the male is 20 or older.
Forget the "maturity" nonsense. It's just plain wrong to have sexual relations with 14 year olds, regardless of age of consent.
Sexual relations...
Wow; somebody shoot me, I just had a Bill Clinton moment.
=(
That weeping you hear is Bill Clinton.
Later read/possible pingout.
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