A government official in France has suggested that 13 is a reasonable age when individuals can consent to sex, a remark that has inpsired protests and has advocates concerned that predators will be enabled.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that in a radio interview French justice minister Nicole Belloubet said that 13 was a “limit worth considering.” Current law states that an adult who engages in a sex act with someone under the age of 15 “without violence, coercion, threat or surprise” can be prosecuted for “sexual abuse,” but not rape.
Advocates who combat sexual exploitation are criticizing her statement.
“There is a worldwide crisis of sexual exploitation of children, and such a policy change would benefit adult sexual predators who wish to prey on children, because the law would provide them a false veneer of legitimacy in their exploits,” said Patrick Trueman, president of the Washington-based National Center on Sexual Exploitation in an email Wednesday to The Christian Post.
