Honestly, my line in reality is different from a hypothetical one.

In a perfect world, the point when someone is ready internally should be enough. The problem is that it isn’t a perfect world, so you run into someone making choices that can cause other people problems.

So I draw the line where the person could potentially function as a parent on a physical level. Somewhere in the late teens. Like, at 14, not only is childbirth physically risky, but neither genetic contributor is going to realistically be able to handle everything that goes with taking care of an infant.

Condoms exist, so that does mitigate things, but I have only rarely known early teens with the reliability to always use protection. I sure as hell wasn’t reliable back then in that regard, which means my partners weren’t either.

So, I tend to favor 16 as the bare minimum. Before then, the possibility of a new human suffering from bad decisions is just too high. If it weren’t for the increased risks around pregnancy and the impact to the offspring, I wouldn’t have a cutoff hypothetically. I’m big on body autonomy.