On legal age change
- PMID: 31302604
- DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2019-105445
On legal age change
Abstract
Joona Räsänen argues some people have a right to change their legal age to prevent age discrimination. He proposes two prerequisites-the person feels his age differs from his legal age, and that person's biological age differs from his chronological age. I argue we can achieve the same protections from ageism through restricting access to one's birth date. I review several moral reasons in favour of changing one's legal age, concluding the enterprise is folly.
Keywords: ethics; legal aspects; rights.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Conflict of interest statement
Competing interests: None declared.
Comment in
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Further defence of legal age change: a reply to the critics.J Med Ethics. 2019 Jul;45(7):471-472. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2019-105547. Epub 2019 Jun 29. J Med Ethics. 2019. PMID: 31256006
Comment on
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Moral case for legal age change.J Med Ethics. 2019 Jul;45(7):461-464. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2018-105294. Epub 2019 Mar 14. J Med Ethics. 2019. PMID: 30872325
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