INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana lawmaker who has advocated for sex-crime victims wants to raise the age of consent to give prosecutors and police another tool to combat sexual predators.

But she’s struggling to convince colleagues that doing so won’t criminalize what they call “young love.”

Rep. Karlee Macer, D-Indianapolis, is working on legislation raising the age of sexual consent from 16 to 18, the minimum age to buy cigarettes or cast a vote.

In addition, her proposal increases penalties for the crime of child seduction, allowing prosecutors to go after adults at least 23 years old who have sex with someone younger than 18.

The measure comes at the request of law enforcement including former Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who’ve supported recent laws aimed at cracking down on human trafficking and commercial sex crimes.

Her bill aims to protect older teens from being coerced into commercial sex work as prostitutes, or from being exploited by much older adults, she said.

“Pimps and predators are preying on young people who are 16 and 17, because they know the law,” Macer said. “They’re luring our children into the sex trade and abusing them.”

Another example Macer cites is based on stories she’s heard from Indianapolis sex-crime detectives who’ve had to tell parents that it’s not a crime for their 16-year-old daughter to have sex with a 56-year-old.

“Most people think that’s statutory rape,” he said, “but in this state, it’s not.”

A similar bill filed two years ago got nowhere. That’s because some legislators were convinced that it would undermine Indiana’s so-called “Romeo and Juliet” law.

That allows teens as young as 14 to engage in consensual sex as part of an ongoing relationship with someone less than four years older, and not be charged with a sex crime.

The “Romeo and Juliet” provision was put into law a decade ago, as Indiana moved to increase penalties for sex crimes to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

State Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, a retired sex crimes investigator with the Hammond Police Department, helped craft the Romeo and Juliet provision. She called it “criminal” to put consenting teenagers in jail.

But she also supports Macer’s legislation, which would follow a number of other states – including California, Colorado, and Oregon – that have raised the consent age in recent years to combat the commercial sex trade.

Lawson said she was particularly concerned when police advocating for the measure told her stories of runaways who were lured into prostitution.

“It’s ugly and awful, and the only way to stop that is to charge someone with human trafficking, and this helps accomplish that,” she said.

Macer’s legislation was still in the making by mid-week. She has asked the state’s new attorney general, Curtis Hill, to review the language.

Larry Landis, head of the Indiana Public Defender Council, has expressed concerns with the proposal, saying lawmakers need to be wary of over legislating sexual behavior in a way that could cause unintended consequences.

The bill first has to be assigned to a House committee for a hearing and vote before it can move on for debate in the General Assembly.

Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, chairman of the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code, said he hasn’t seen the language so doesn’t yet know whether it will get a hearing.

Maureen Hayden covers the Indiana Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at mhayden@cnhi.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaureenHayden.