A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine in Bioethics and Health Law
Johannesburg, 2015 / Generally, consensual adolescent sexual intercourse is fraught with a number
of negative outcomes such as socio-economically, where unplanned
pregnancies occur, and medically with the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases that require treatment. The Sexual Offences and Related Matters
Amendment Act 32 of 2007, hereunder referred to as the Sexual Offences Act
(“SOA”), criminalised consensual sexual intercourse between adolescents
aged from 12 to less than16 years.
Since the inception of the SOA in 2007, there seemed to have been relatively
little evaluation of the practical effect of sections 15 and 16 of the SOA on
society. This changed in 2011 when two non-profit organisations, The Teddy
Bear Clinic for Abused Children and RAPCAN (Resources Aimed at the
Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) who were the first and second
applicants respectively, challenged the constitutionality of certain sections of
the SOA. These sections are:
- section 15 – entitled “Acts of consensual sexual penetration with
certain children (statutory rape)”;
- section 16 – entitled “Acts of consensual sexual violation with
certain children (statutory sexual assault); and
- section 56(2) – which deals with defences in respect of sections 15
and 16.
In October 2013, the Constitutional Court declared sections 15 and 16
inconsistent with the Constitution. That declaration was suspended for a
period of 18 months to enable Parliament to correct the defects in the statute.
It is widely known that adolescents still engage in consensual sex with each
other regardless of the law. The issues invite an evaluation of the current
legislation in the context of the health and social issues that surround them. In
addition, the impact of the current applicable legislation on the present realism
needs to be scrutinised.
It is essential for alternative interventions to be established which will aid in
reducing the negative impact of consensual adolescent sexual intercourse.
This research report looks at interventions that could be introduced to prevent
adolescent sexual intercourse and alleviate the negativity of outcomes.
Furthermore, the report aims to suggest an ethical, structured approach to
reduce the current negative outcomes of adolescent sexual intercourse. In
order to accomplish this I first describe the legislation that applies to
consensual adolescent sexual intercourse of children between the ages of 12
and 16 years old. This brought to the fore the health practitioner’s practical
experiences of problems associated with this legislation. In addition, I identify
and discuss some ethical problems that health practitioners are confronted
with in relation to consensual adolescent intercourse, in terms of having to
balance their professional legal and ethical obligations.
Finally, I propose some recommendations that will inform educational
organisations on the relevant information to be included in sexual and
reproductive health education campaigns. Furthermore, recommendations
are made to relevant national policy-making departments to make strategic
decisions regarding health and social interventions for adolescent sexual and
reproductive health services. / MT2016
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21164 |
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Creators | Chirkut, Shivani |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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