Federal judge rules against Kline in juvenile sex case
Story by Associated Press
4:13 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, 2006
A federal judge ruled in Wichita Tuesday that doctors, teachers and others are not required to always report underage sex between consenting youths as possible abuse.
U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten granted a permanent injunction in the case filed by Aid For Women and health care providers. They had brought a constitutional challenge to Kansas
Attorney General Phill Kline's interpretation of the state's mandatory reporting law.
Kline contended the 1982 law requiring doctors, teachers and others to alert the state and law enforcement about potential child abuse covers consensual sex between minors.
But, Marten says a plain reading of the Kansas statute gives mandatory reporters such as health care providers the discretion to determine whether there is reason to suspect a child has been injured as a result of sexual abuse.
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