Inspired in part by this thread.
It’s obvious that minor children have some civil rights. Police cannot stop then on the street and search them (absent probable cause). They may wear a black armband in school to protest war, even if the school doesn’t want them to. They may have some right to obtain an abortion without parental involvement or consent, depending on where you are and what you believe.
It’s equally obvious that minor children do not have all the civil rights that adults do. They may be constitutionally subject to curfews, and they may not enter into binding contracts. They may not vote. They may not live on their own, or marry without parental consent.
Do they have a civil right to have sex with each other, or with adults?
In favor of the argument that they do: decisions about sex are matters of the most intimate and personal kind; choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the sort of liberty that courts have said is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
By what right does society constrain two teenagers from having sex with each other? And by what right does society constrain a teenager from making the personal choice to become intimate with an adult?