
The law holds space for discretion. Any bench trial, any jury, a just one, would agree that a 14 year old is a child who cannot consent. If you think that this is moral because there is a mere by-law in some events that I do not even think should be up for discretion, then this conversation is a failure to have.
A 14 year old would not be tried as an adult for stealing. They would not be housed with adults in a penitentiary. Because fundamentally they are a child. The discretion of difference of age is up to the state, and even then, do you hear yourself? This is the hill you want to die on? That it is okay, in any world for a child to be groomed and coerced?
The legality in of itself is up to state discretion. That is the point. While there is no blanket law of minimum guidance, the point remains that it is an adult in a sexual relationship with a minor. That is by definition statutory rape. While state discretion may change, federal guidelines are straightword on the wording of the actors in the matter.