Should there be a teenage constitution for teenage rights?
Not in general, because minors usually do not possess the levels of maturity, responsibility, judgment, and education that adults, on average, do. Minors all over the country prove that every day. Teenagers do have some rights: minors are entitled to be fed, clothed, and sheltered, to have access to education. They cannot be abused, sexually or physically. If a minor becomes pregnant, she and the father alone have the right to make decisions about the child’s future. In most states, the age of consent for sex is lower than the age of legal adulthood, so a minor can usually legally decide to have sex before he or she turns 18. And once a teenager does turn 18, he or she is a legal adult, with all of the protections of the Constitution. The only thing an 18-year-old can’t do is drink, and there are good reasons for that. (See my first paragraph.) So, I don’t think that teenagers are so badly off.
