This week at Townhall, Christine Rousselle reported that France is seeking to lower the age of consent to 13. Feminists are reportedly in an uproar, and rightly so. France’s current law sets that age at 15, which is lower than that of the United States — and is even on the very low end of the average age of sexual consent worldwide.
Rouselle notes the current law, adding (emphasis added), “but having sex with someone under the age of consent is not always considered to be a form of rape, as it is in other countries. ” In other words, when it comes to protecting children from predators, France just… isn’t. Rouselle gives a case in point:
Recently, French authorities declined to charge a 28-year-old man with rape after he had sex with an 11-year-old girl, as they could not prove that the girl had not consented and had been coerced. Having sexual relations with someone who is younger than the age of consent is a lesser offense in France punishable with up to five years in prison.
ABC News reported, “Twice in recent weeks, French courts have refused to prosecute men for rape after they had sex with 11-year-old girls because authorities couldn’t prove coercion,” adding, “Amid the public disbelief over the situation, the French government is drafting a bill to say that sex with children under a certain age is by definition coercive.”
Shouldn’t common sense dictate that an 11-year-old child is incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse and its potential consequences, such as unplanned pregnancy, abortion, STDs, emotional and psychological damage, birth control side effects, etc.? Children are not equipped to handle these things. (In America, a person has to be 18 to purchase cigarettes in most states, and 21 for alcohol. If we don’t feel children are old enough to handle these, then why would we assume children are old enough to handle sexual activity?) In an age where certain predatory groups — like the abortion industry — routinely fight against reasonable notions like, “parents should be notified if their children are considering abortion,” and “school officials shouldn’t be allowed to take children off campus to get abortions without their parents’ knowledge,” and “children can’t possibly understand the ramifications of sexual activity and therefore cannot consent,” common sense has clearly taken a back seat to a far more sinister agenda.
A weakening of protections for children does nothing to benefit them, and everything to benefit adults who would victimize them. We have seen this in cases where Planned Parenthood has skirted and ignored the laws put in place to protect children from predators.
A 13-year-old from Colorado was sexually abused by her stepfather, who took her to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, which Planned Parenthood committed without reporting (against state law), returning her to her abuser. There are so many cases of this sort of thing happening at Planned Parenthood over decades that Live Action News’ Carole Novielli wrote a two–part series just to list them: a 14-year-old in Alabama who aborted twice in four months went unreported by Planned Parenthood; a 15-year-old in Arizona was raped and Planned Parenthood said it “wasn’t worth the hassle” to report; a 12-year-old in California was sexually abused for three years, became pregnant, and Planned Parenthood sent her back to her abusing without reporting it; a 13-year-old in California was abused by her stepfather, and Planned Parenthood didn’t report the abuse after her abortion; a Connecticut 15-year-old was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and became pregnant – but Planned Parenthood didn’t report it after her abortion; an Indiana state investigation revealed that at least 73 minor patients had abortions at Planned Parenthood, which should have been reported to authorities due to their age, but were not; and the list goes on and on.
Live Action went undercover at eight Planned Parenthood facilities and found that they were willing to cover up the sexual abuse of minors, even though state law required that pregnant minors under age 14 should be reported to authorities. Here’s just one of those videos:
This is happening in America, where most states put the age of consent at 16 or higher, and the nation’s largest abortion provider simply takes the abortion money and looks the other way, further victimizing these children. Imagine how much worse it would be if that age was dropped significantly, as is being suggested in France.
Children’s wellbeing and safety are being put at great risk. France — which is trying to protect women by removing a dangerous abortion drug from the market, yet allows abortion on demand up through the first trimester (paid for by taxpayers) and bans websites informing women of abortion’s negative impacts — needs to do better in protecting its women and its children.
Lowering the age of consent isn’t the way to do it.
