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Volume 30, Number 4, July/August 1998 play an important role in teenage pregnancy. The U.S. Congress made the prevention of teenage pregnancies a major objective of the 1996 federal welfare reform law,3 which recommends that “the states and local jurisdictions should aggressively enforce statutory rape laws” as one way to achieve this end.4 As a result, states are reconsidering both the content of their statutory rape laws and such laws’ enforcement.5 Whether the public or the legal community supports this policy is unclear, however. Nor is there consensus on what would be the likely impact of enforcement. The views of legal experts range from the risks of selective enforcement and racial discrimination to the benefits of protecting girls from “depression, disease and pregnancy.”6 Can aggressive enforcement of statutory rape laws reduce adolescent pregnancy rates? While federal welfare reform policy argues that it can,7 many recent studies and commentaries8 either suggest that it cannot or show no consensus on this topic.9 Some incremental reductions may result from enforcement, but incarcerating men may not substantially lower pregnancy rates. Moreover, enforcing such laws without considering the needs of women, children and fathers may inadvertently damage those whom the law is meant to protect. For example, an 18-year-old male, Henry L. Miller is epidemiologist with the Special Studies Section, Bureau of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Corinne E. Miller is assistant state epidemiologist with the Office of Epidemiologic Services; and Linda Kenney is director of the Children and Families Section, Bureau for Children, Youth and Families; all with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Topeka, KS. James W. Clark is executive director of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, Topeka, KS. Issues in Statutory Rape Law Enforcement: The Views of District Attorneys in Kansas