If a child is under 16 and gets pregnant by a person 21 or older, it is also child abuse.

• A. Under 14
• B. Under 16
• C. Under 18
• D. Under 21

Answer: (B)

The main idea is that child abuse definitions use a specific age cutoff to determine when sexual activity with an adult becomes abuse. If the minor is younger than that cutoff, the act is considered abuse regardless of consent or intent. Here, pregnancy shows there was sexual activity, and the rule applies specifically to someone who is under 16. So when the child is younger than 16, a person 21 or older committing sexual activity is considered child abuse.

Why this threshold fits best: 16 is the age at which the statute in this context marks the line between permissible and abusive sexual conduct with an adult. The adult participating in sexual activity with someone under 16 crosses into abuse, which is why it’s labeled as child abuse in this scenario. If the child were 16 or older, the same act wouldn’t automatically be abuse under this rule, as many places have different age-of-consent rules.

Why the other options don’t fit: the choice that uses a younger cutoff (under 14) would miss cases that involve someone between 14 and 15; the choice that uses under 18 would also broaden the scope to include older teens, which isn’t the scenario described here; the choice using under 21 confuses the age of the minor with the adult’s status, which isn’t how the threshold is defined in this context.