Mandatory reporting of underage sex between consenting minors would be the kind of “painful, difficult experience” for juveniles and their families that would change their sexual behavior, a child behavior expert testified Monday.

“It forces someone to come to terms with their life. This law facilitates that – it is a stimulus for change,” said Allan Josephson, a professor of psychiatry and chief executive officer of the Bingham Child Guidance Center in Louisville, Ky.

Josephson, the only witness who testified Monday, did so on behalf of Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline’s position that the state’s mandatory abuse reporting law requires health care providers, social workers, school officials and others to report underage sex.

In Kansas, the age of consent is 16.

“Change usually does not occur without some painful stimulus,” Josephson said. “This reporting introduces the kind of distress … that forces change.”

At issue in the federal lawsuit – brought by The Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York advocacy group – is the constitutionality of Kline’s interpretation of the state’s forced reporting law. The group contends it discourages adolescents from seeking counseling or medical treatment and is unconstitutionally vague.

Josephson acknowledged under questioning that while some adolescents may not see a doctor because of the mandatory reporting law, a good number would cease their sexual activities because the intervention by authorities would cause a family crisis and lead to resolution.

The testimony prompted an incredulous U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten to extensively question Josephson himself.

The judge’s questioning provided a glimpse into his repeated statements from the bench that the Legislature, in writing the state’s mandatory reporting statute, apparently intended that the reporter of the abuse first determine that an injury occurred before reporting it as sexual abuse – without taking a “moral judgment or stance” on the juvenile sex.

Josephson also testified that minors should have a parent’s consent on all major medical decisions, including contraception and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

When pressed on cross-examination, Josephson acknowledged he would refer to another doctor underage adolescents who wanted a prescription for contraception without parental consent, but he would treat those infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Under questioning by the judge, Josephson also acknowledged that some doctors would be better qualified than an entry-level government worker at the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services to decide whether consensual underage sex between age-mates constitutes sexual abuse.

Testimony resumes today with additional expert witnesses. Sedgwick County Dist. Atty. Nola Foulston, a co-defendant in the case, also is expected to testify.