New Child Abuse Law Exempt from Statute of Limitations

A new law-related game changer could be on the cards in Minnesota where lawsuits are being brought forward by those who were sexually abused as children due to a recent exemption to the statute of limitations. Attorney Jeff Anderson is currently battling for a family to have a trial, due to an issue involving the Boy Scouts of America. Anderson is currently in talks with a judge to convince them to hold the Boy Scouts civilly liable for Peter Stibal, who is currently serving 14 years in prison for molesting young boys. It’s believed that Stibal had previously been known as an offender before he abused the child of the family Anderson is working with, so why were these red flags not highlighted earlier?

 

While the case against the Boy Scouts is not affected by the new law, which states that such child abuse cases can be brought forward at any time rather than being erased after a set time frame, Anderson has been key in getting the so-called perversion files released. He is now working to develop something similar from the Catholic archdiocese, which is the name of 47 priests thought to be involved in sexual misconduct. In light of the new law surrounding children, he believes that he could have another chance at making those names public knowledge. The new law in Minnesota allows a three-year retroactive exemption for victims of child sex abuse from the statute of limitations. In the future there will be no limitations at all for cases of child sex abuse.

 

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is committed to making sure that children and young people are as safe as possible. Since 2002 the archdiocese has implemented the requirements from the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was adopted by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to ensure that extraordinary measurements were taken to protect children in school, parishes and religious education classes.

Categories: abuse, Children, law

Could a New Law Put Sexual Health of Ohio’s Teens at Risk?

Any person or organisation within a school who promotes “Gateway Sexual Activity” in Ohio – even in a critical sex education class – could be sued. This is according to the Ohio House Republicans in the Finance Committee, who explicitly describe sex education as “venereal disease education” and are looking to rule out sexual health education which even implies any sexual act.

According to the Republicans, the term “gateway” isn’t just to imply protecting their children’s wellbeing from explicitly dangerous activity, they’re using it to imply any sexual act including ‘touching of an erogenous zone of another…for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying either person.’ Under the new law, anyone would be banned from doing so, and students will have the right to file suit against school officials condoning “gateway sexual activity” on or off of school property.

So what does this mean for Ohio’s sexual wellness? Children won’t learn anything more than Mormon kids in the 1940s were taught; they won’t be educated about protection or prevention. There are three main things that teachers across the state would be instructed to: ‘Stress that students should abstain from sexual activity until after marriage’, ‘Teach the potential physical, psychological, emotional, and social side effects of participating in sexual activity outside of marriage’ and ‘Emphasize adoption as an option for unintended pregnancies’.

The officials argue ‘abstinence…is the only protection that is one hundred percent effective against unwanted pregnancy, STDs, and [AIDS],’ and no one is denying that. However, you know that a teacher asking hormonal teens to abstain from sex is like you asking your dog to do the washing up – it’s a nice idea, but it’s very unlikely to happen. There is no research to support the idea that sexual education has led to a rise in disease, unwanted pregnancy or promiscuity.

In fact, over 15 years ago, UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, reviewed 68 different studies from around the world in 1997, noting that ‘providing children with sex education does not promote promiscuity.’ Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice, said in a statement, ‘Today the Ohio House Finance Committee voted to send our state back to the 1950s. The Ohio House is doing everything they can to restrict access to reproductive health care and medically accurate information that help Ohioans live healthy lives.’

Could a New Law Put Sexual Health of Ohio’s Teens at Risk?

Categories: Gateway Sexual Activity, law, Ohio