by TChris

Phill Kline, the Attorney General of Kansas, has an unhealthy obsession with teenage sex. Apart from his unsuccessful attempt to learn the identity of every minor in Kansas who obtains an abortion (discussed here and here), Kline issued an opinion that purported to require all health care providers to alert the government when they learn that a minor had engaged in sexual activity or wants contraception. Kline's theory was that Kansas law equates sex with abuse when one or both of the participants is under the age of 16 -- an interpretation that would trigger mandatory reporting of "abuse" whenever a health care provider learned that a minor was in a sexual relationship, regardless of the age of the other participant or the child's willingness to participate.

Recognizing the lunacy of that position, federal District Judge J. Thomas Marten told Kline that he doesn't understand Kansas' mandatory reporting law. The law requires reporting of abuse that causes injury, and sex -- despite what Kline thinks -- isn't inherently injurious.

In yesterday's decision, Judge Marten said Mr. Kline's opinion improperly conflated illegal sexual activity -- intercourse, oral sex and lewd touching by anyone under 16 are prohibited in Kansas -- with abuse.