To kick start this debate I'd like to put forward the question why does the UK has the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe when our age of consent is marginally higher than the rest of Europe? Britain’s teen pregnancy rate is: twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands. But the age of consent for all these countries is in fact 15. So where has it all gone right for Germany, France, and the Netherlands? But where has it all gone so horrible wrong for broken Britain, and how does lowering the age of consent change any of this?
Teenage pregnancy is the result of inequality and poverty; in fact UNICEF reported a strong link between inequality, poverty, and teenage births in 2012. Where we are in relation to each over is key to teenage pregnancy rates. Britain is an unequal society, but If Britain were to concentrate on making its citizens' incomes as equal as those of people in Germany and France we would experience a dramatic decrease in teenage pregnancy rate. Britain’s social problems that place us as the second most unequal society in the developed world is due to the clear economic divide, only topped by America. Richard Wilkinson a professor at Nottingham University whom also received an honorary degree from UCL quotes “If Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark.” I think something of a similar nature would apply to Britain as well.
So what would creating a more equal Britain do in relation of the age of consent? Teen parenthood is more of a consequence of intense inequality and poverty and Family life seems to follow real economic opportunities. Where the system looks stacked against them, they are more likely to abandon mainstream norms. Those who do so by becoming teen parents end up fairly poorly In life, but those bad outcomes seem to a result of bleach underlying circumstances rather than poor choices. By investing more money into reducing inequality and poverty we can in fact reduce the number of teenage parents. The French prime minister stated that we Brit’s are to squeamish when it comes down to discussing sex – so by reducing the age of consent we can begin to remove the stigma and the taboo nature surrounding the subject – talk more openly with our 15 year olds about sex and discuss more freely the choices they have, but also the real life consequences as they won’t be prosecuted by the law for actually engaging in sex.