The very thing that we believe protects children from their own reckless decisions, mandatory parental consent, is precisely what makes them prisoners in their own abusive homes.

What is a wonderful thing in a loving home, becomes a disastrous provision for children trapped in broken, abusive homes.

A provision that is designed to help loving parents nurture healthy children becomes a heinous power for those who are more predators than parents. Those who have enjoyed the privilege of loving, caring homes cannot imagine the brutality of dysfunctional households. Sexual cruelty is the norm. Fear and suppression replace caring and trust.

Sadly, there are far more of these households of hell than we care to admit or dare to confront. And this wretchedness exists at all levels of our society.

So, the parental consent provisions that we glibly assume exist for parents to protect our children are too often employed to protect the family’s image and status in the community. The social standing of the family takes precedence over the wellbeing of the children.

It cannot be easy for one spouse to charge the other, or for a father to expose his brother to the law. But consider the alternative: that individual, protected by the constraint of parental consent, is free to do harm to other adolescents.

This is not a marginal problem. In one Eastern Caribbean country, 18.6% of women attending public health clinics reported being sexually abused as children. Since that is likely to be an underreported figure, we can be assured that more than 1:5 women endure this terrible, life-changing horror.

Removing the mandatory parental consent gives adolescents a channel of legal access to healthcare professionals. It empowers children and could improve reporting and prosecution of sexual predators.

• Nothing in the Age of Civil Responsibility Bill changes the age at which sex becomes lawful. That remains at 16.
• Nothing in the Age of Civil Responsibility Bill undermines parents or grandparents who have cultivated openness and trust with their children.
• Nothing in the Age of Civil Responsibility Bill favours sexual predators. Nothing. It makes them more vulnerable.

We urge the government to strengthen the Age of Civil Responsibility Bill and proceed with it.

Sincerely,

Tonia Frame, President, Grenada Planned Parenthood Association (GPPA)
Fred Nunes, Consultant, Advocates for Safe Parenthood: Improving Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE)
GPPA’s Youth Advocacy Movement (YAM)

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