CODE OF VIRGINIA

CAUSING OR ENCOURAGING ACTS RENDERING CHILDREN DELINQUENT, ABUSED, ETC.;
PENALTY; ABANDONED INFANT (§ 18.2-371)

Any person 18 years of age or older, including the parent of any child, who (i)
willfully contributes to, encourages, or causes any act, omission, or condition
that renders a child delinquent, in need of services, in need of supervision, or
abused or neglected as defined in § 16.1-228 or (ii) engages in consensual
sexual intercourse or anal intercourse with or performs cunnilingus, fellatio,
or anilingus upon or by a child 15 or older not his spouse, child, or grandchild
is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. This section shall not be construed as
repealing, modifying, or in any way affecting §§ 18.2-18, 18.2-19, 18.2-61,
18.2-63, and 18.2-347.If the prosecution under this section is based solely on
the accused parent having left the child at a hospital or emergency medical
services agency, it shall be an affirmative defense to prosecution of a parent
under this section that such parent safely delivered the child to a hospital
that provides 24-hour emergency services or to an attended emergency medical
services agency that employs emergency medical services personnel, within the
first 14 days of the child’s life. In order for the affirmative defense to
apply, the child shall be delivered in a manner reasonably calculated to ensure
the child’s safety.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 18.1-14; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1981, cc. 397,
568; 1990, c. 797; 1991, c. 295; 1993, c. 411; 2003, cc. 816, 822; 2006, c. 935;
2008, cc. 174, 206; 2014, c. 794; 2015, cc. 502, 503.