Fornication

Fornication is consensual sexual intercourse between two people who are not married to each other, a category historically carrying an overtone of moral or religious disapproval and distinguished from adultery, which involves a married person having such relations with someone other than their spouse. Some jurisdictions historically criminalized fornication, though most of these laws have since been repealed or struck down by courts as inconsistent with state constitutions; as of December 2023, only five U.S. states, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, North Carolina, and North Dakota, still retained such statutes, though enforcement in practice is minimal or nonexistent. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/