WHEN YOU'RE OLD ENOUGH TO NO LONGER BE CONSIDERED A MINOR VARIES - AND WHY

You're a child until 26 if you stay on your parents' insurance;

and you're a child if you're a 17 y/o who beats a man bloody, 

but you can have an abortion at 14 without parental consent.

I think this perfectly reveals the permissive and perverse postmodern nannystate ethos.