Little known fact: I have a law degree. Yes it’s Bish Training LLB (Hons). And for the first time in my working life it is relevant.
These laws are for the UK (Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
Even if you are under 16, you have the right to a confidential service for condoms, contraception, check-ups and advice. Confidential means that clinics do not tell anyone they have seen you unless they need to protect you or someone else from a serious risk of harm. If they do have to tell someone they would always try to ask you first.
The legal age for marriage and civil partnerships (unfortunately not the same thing) is 16 with parental consent or 18 without.
A young woman under 16 can have an abortion without her parents knowing (if two doctors agree that she is mature enough and that it’s in her best interests). They are legal in Great Britain up to 24 weeks of pregnancy (terminations at this late stage of pregnancy are very rare).
(In Northern Ireland abortion is not legally available unless in rare circumstances where the health of the foetus or the mother is at risk. Many women from Northern Ireland travel to other parts of the UK for a legal and free termination.)
Young women usually want to tell parents or another responsible adult. Doctors will encourage this but will not force them to. It is a decision that only the woman can make: men have no legal say.
(To find your local Reproductive Sexual Health or ‘Family Planning Clinic’ or Brook, where you can get referred for a termination (abortion) for free, click here).
There are a number of laws to do with having sex outside. It can be illegal to show male or female genitals in public. It is illegal to have sex in a public toilet. It is also an offence to have sex in public if it is near a children’s play area.
People having sex outside can also be guilty of ‘outraging public decency’, unless they could have expected a reasonable degree of privacy and did what they could to prevent being seen.
If in doubt don’t bother. It’s cold out at the moment and you might also graze your knees.
It is legal to look at porn so long as it does not feature: under 18s, sex with animals, torture, scenes of rape or sexual assault or violent scenes which are life threatening or likely to cause serious harm.
You need to be 18 to buy porn magazines or videos and most porn websites try to prevent under 18s from accessing them. Don’t film yourself having sex if you are under 18 because that’s child porn: seriously.
It’s also illegal to watch porn with someone under 18. (This is to try and prevent sexual abuse of children, but can apply even if you are both under 18 and both wanted to watch it.)
When having any kind of sexual contact with someone, both people must consent to it happening, otherwise it is against the law.
‘A person consents if [s]he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice.’ Just because someone isn’t protesting or saying no does not mean that they are agreeing to sex.
If someone is really drunk or stoned then they may lack the capacity to be able to consent, particularly if they pass out or forget what happened. This means that any sexual contact at that time could be unlawful; eg rape.
If there was any violence or perceived threat of violence, if the victim was trapped or locked in a room, if the victim couldn’t communicate their non-consent, if the victim was unconscious or if the victim was drugged, then the court may rule that there was no consent.
Also if the victim was tricked into sex (either about who or what it will involve) it is unlawful.
And consent is a continuing act, so someone may agree to something but if they then change their mind half way through, the other person must stop.
Rules about consent apply in marriage or any long term relationship. If someone (man or woman) does not want sex then you can not force them.
If you are in any doubt as to whether someone is consenting, or whether they have lost the capacity to consent, then don’t have sex.
There are a number of sexual acts which, without consent, are unlawful. Rape (penetration of mouth, vagina or anus with the penis), assault by penetration (with fingers or objects), sexual assault (any sexual touching at all), causing someone to have sex.
Apart from rape, the offender can be a man or a woman (or a transsexual male to female with a penis).
If you are the victim of a sex crime or sexual abuse then you can report it to the Police, or a sexual assault referral centre. For more visit www.rapecrisis.org.uk
Under age sex is illegal whether there was consent or not. These laws can be used against people who are under 16 too, but this is not the intention of the law.
It is unlawful for someone to to have any kind of sex or sexual touching with someone under 13 or between 13 to 16 (unless that person reasonably believes the other person to be over 16). This applies to men and women and is the same for lesbian and gay relationships too.
There are a number of other offences to protect children and young people from abuse:
Causing or inciting an under 16 to engage in sexual activity. This can include sending sexy text messages to someone, or asking someone for oral sex (for example), or to ask someone to do a strip tease or convincing someone to have sex with someone else (eg prostitution or group sex).
It’s illegal to have sexual activity in front of someone under 16. It can be illegal to show porn to someone under 16. And it is now illegal for someone to meet with an under 16 year old after communicating with them on the internet for the purposes of sex (called ‘grooming’).
It’s illegal for anyone in a position of trust (eg teacher, youth worker) to have sex with someone they work with or look after who is under 18. There are also laws to prevent any sexual acts with someone under 18 who is a family member.
If you are really really interested in the law and sex here is the Sexual Offences Act 2003
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030042_en_1
Brook THT FPA
