BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Now, a special report on a federal trial in Kansas over how much doctors, psychologists, and social workers should have to tell the state about the sexual activity of minor children they treat or counsel. Kansas law requires enough reporting to help protect children from abusers and predators. But Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has interpreted that law to require therapists to report many kinds of sexual activity by minors. He argues that some of those practices could be criminal. Therapists sued, saying the A.G.'s interpretation could violate children's privacy and may be so broad it could discourage children from talking honestly with therapists.

Tim O'Brien has more.

TIM O'BRIEN: Protecting children is one of society's most challenging responsibilities. Every state has laws requiring health care providers to report the suspected abuse of children. But the attorney general in Kansas, Phill Kline, has given a new interpretation to that state's law, requiring providers to start reporting a wide range of sexual activity, not just intercourse, even when it's consensual between young people of the same age

PHILL KLINE (Attorney General, Kansas): If it is two age-mates engaging in sexual exploration and there's no force, we do not prosecute. But let us know so that we can figure out the truth. That's what the law says; that's the position of our office.

O'BRIEN: That's an expansive view of the Kansas law which has infuriated health care professionals. They say the requirements violate the privacy rights of children, compromise the professional responsibilities of caregivers, and in the end will do more harm than good.

Dr. ROBERT BLUM (Chair, Department of Population Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health): The harm is there because it will keep people, young people, from getting services that they need. You, as a 15-year-old, have now been advised that anything you tell me about your sexual behavior will be reported to Child Protection Services or the equivalent in the state. Are you going to tell me much of anything? Am I going to be able to understand what your sexual behaviors are that might put you at risk for pregnancy or STDs or HIV?

O'BRIEN: Dr. Robert Blum is a pediatrician who chairs the family health sciences department at Johns Hopkins University. Called as an expert witness by health care professionals, Blum testified the law is so vague it leaves social workers in a quandary over what to report.

Dr. BLUM: There's really a very wide range.

O'BRIEN (To Dr. Blum): What about making out in the back seat of a car?

Dr. BLUM: Well, that's very questionable of whether that would be included as well. Most likely it would fall under the state law for mandatory reporting, yes.

Dr. BETH HARTMAN MCGILLEY (Psychologist): It could definitely be implied. And that's been our position all along, is that you are implicating normative, healthy, natural sexual behavior between consensual age-mates.

O'BRIEN: Beth McGilley, who specializes in adolescent psychology, also testified against the Kansas reporting requirements, telling the court that she and most therapists already tend to over-report possible abuse, not under-report it.

Dr. MCGILLEY: If you are in a quandary, if it seems ambiguous, which side do you err on? Always on the side of reporting, because I would rather be wrong and have to undo whatever damage might be done. And I'm here to tell you that when you make reports, it does sometimes threaten, if not sever, the therapeutic relationship.

O'BRIEN: McGilley and Blum both insist that what constitutes sex abuse should be left to the judgment of health care professionals rather than to politicians drawing arbitrary age distinctions.

Dr. BLUM: The reality is people develop at different ages, and the risk and harm to a person is far more dependent on their maturation and the contexts than on the age that they are in.