(Barbados Nation) The umbrella body for parent-teacher associations is suggesting that the age of sexual consent be raised to 18.
President of the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (NCPTA), Rhonda Blackman, also believes that’s the age at which a person should access medical care without parental consent.
While Blackman agrees with Minister of Health Donville Inniss that the disparity between the age of consent and the age at which a person can access medical care without a parent’s consent needs to be fixed, she says the bar should be raised, rather than lowered.
“When you become 16, you’re given licence to drive, you can give legal consent for sex, you have access to nightclubs and fetes. If you are given the responsibility and you are accountable at age 16 for these things, then it is saying there is a level of maturity and along with that maturity comes a level of responsibility. So if you can do these things without your parents, then yes, you should be legally able to go to the doctor,” she said in an interview with the SATURDAY SUN.
