""This is a great result for teenagers in Kansas, and for all those who care about protecting teen’s health and well-being," said Bonnie Scott Jones"
That is of course, unless they are being abused reportedly, or having abortions and suffering while MS. Magazine continues to deny post abortion stress.
A federal appeals court ended
former Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline’s quest to require health
care providers and counselors to report all adolescent sexual activity,
even kissing. Healthcare and counseling professionals, led by the
Center for Reproductive Rights, challenged the constitutionality of the
policy, and in 2006 a US district judge blocked its enforcement, ruling
that it violated teens’ right to privacy. Undeterred, Kline appealed.
But the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed the appeal
this week on the grounds that the state’s new sexual abuse reporting
law instituted in January made the case moot because it does not
require reporting all adolescent sexual contact.
The "kiss and tell" policy was "part of a trend by the anti-choice
movement to use child-abuse reporting laws to scare adolescents away
from reproductive health care," according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
In 2003, as part of his crusade against abortion, Kline issued an
interpretation of the state’s child abuse reporting law, claiming that
it required abortion clinics to report teen pregnancies as evidence of
criminal sexual abuse. He then extended the “kiss and tell” policy to
require other health care professionals, teachers, and others to report
any evidence of underage sexual activity, the Wichita Eagle
reports. During his time as Attorney General, Kline became notorious
for bringing charges against Wichita abortion provider Dr. George
Tiller, which the Kansas Supreme Court dismissed.
"This is a great result for teenagers in Kansas, and for all those who
care about protecting teen’s health and well-being," said Bonnie Scott
Jones, the lead trial attorney in the case. "Reporting suspected child
abuse is one thing. But reporting all intimate conduct between
adolescents simply drives a wedge between those young people and the
professionals who are there to help them."
Media Resources: The Wichita Eagle 9/19/07, 6/19/03; Center for Reproductive Rights Press Release 9/18/07; Feminist Daily News Wire 2/15/07
