Penuel,

I actually agree with you in a way. I used the term "Informed" deliberately. I don't believe that a 13 year old going to an abortion clinic is really "informed", because as you mention, there are other issues which she is not told about. So yes, I do actually agree with you, but I think it actually supports my argument.

As for the 25 year old and the teenager, I've seen some good points in the responses. Since I don't have kids, I suppose I'm just "ignorant", in the most neutral sense of the word. Your point about an adolescent expecting more from an adult is correct.

I suppose in the end my thought is that age doesn't matter in a sense. Once upon a time, it wasn't too unusual for a 14 year old girl to marry a 30 year old man. It was culturally acceptable. However, as you point out, the girl would have expectations that she would be "taken care of". Nowadays, she would never be able to count on that, and her life would be too bizarre for her to comprehend.

However, I still stand by my basic premise: Once you lower the age of consent, then it becomes harder to make distinctions. The age of consent, to me is about the point when you begin to consider a child to be an adult, making choices on their own.

Whether they actually are an adult or not.