Amy Alkon reacts to a report about a new Oregon state law that goes a long way to remove agency and personal autonomy from teenagers in the state:
The latest is a story from Oregon, from The Daily Caller, where Eric Owen reports that public school teachers must now inform the government when they find out a teenager has had sex. No, we’re not talking about sex with some adult predator, but sex with another teen — consensual sex with another teen.
Teachers in the Salem-Keizer school district face fines and can even lose their jobs if they fail to blow the whistle on teen students who are voluntarily having sex with each other, reports the Statesman Journal, the main newspaper in Salem.
The draconian requirements also require teachers in the district to report teen students who might have had consensual sex.
…The state law — ORS 163.315 — makes it illegal for anyone who is under 18 years of age to consent to a sex act.
The Statesman Journal story by Natalie Pate does say this:
Another Oregon law, ORS 163.345, or the “three-year rule,” addresses when the individuals are similar in age and force and coercion are not present. This often is thought of as “consensual” activity.
While this law can be applied in criminal proceedings, it does not apply to mandatory reporting.
The problem is that when laws are passed, laws can be used.
The government has no business telling people under 18 that they aren’t allowed autonomy over their own bodies.
So high school teachers are now legally required to report to state authorities even the suspicion that a teen in their classes has had sex. Police officers and social workers can then go to that school and investigate the student (one can easily imagine how traumatic that might be…). There’s no indication how long or under what conditions these “sex files” will be kept or accessed. Talk about fearing that something was going to go on your “permanent record”!
