About 300,000 children and teens were legally married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, according to data from Unchained at Last, a nonprofit that works to help women and girls in forced marriages.
Laws prohibiting minors to marry have struggled to pass. Only 10 states have a law prohibiting people under 18 from marrying.
Pushback to setting 18 as a minimum age for marriage comes from both conservative and progressive groups.
Earlier this year, for instance, a bill that would have prohibited minors from getting married in West Virginia was rejected by Republicans in the state Senate. Some opponents of the bill argued that teen marriage was part of West Virginia’s culture.
Great argument, guys
One of them even said that he personally knows 12 year olds that got married and defended it by saying “Guess what? They’re still married.”
No shit, probably because she’s still a teenager who’s probably saddled with a couple of kids by now and no financial support if she tried to leave.
Some states that allow child marriage, don’t allow divorce until both parties are 18.
Republicans
The party of forced birth for child brides.
And forced birth for raped children as we’ve already seen since Roe v wade was flipped
Republicans: “This would never happen, even if Roe v. Wade got overturned!!!”
Republicans: overturn Roe v. Wade, pass laws that prohibit abortion in case of rape
Republicans: “Well, nobody wants that, but it’s the law of the land, and we just have to abide by it!!!”
The use of the term “progressive” here is infuriating. No one who actually wants progress is okay with kids getting married.
Surprised you’re the first to bring that up (and that I didn’t get more downvotes on the post). I don’t think many progressives are out here defending child marriage, although as another commenter shared on this thread in their personal story, there are rare occasions where it may have an upside. The groups named in the story aren’t usually ones you’d think of as aiding and abetting child abuse.
Ehhhh, I’m less worried about the social effect of kids getting married at 16 or arranged marriage at 14 than I am 25 year olds using dating apps to get triple digit body counts, or the proliferation of strange kinks like furries
An absolutely terrible take. You certainly aren’t in any danger of being called progressive though.
I don’t really see the behavior these days as progress, and I think you could use a dose of cultural relativism when it comes to things like teen or arranged marriage. Sex isnt inherently violating. Your modern western ideology isn’t automatically progress, if anything it’s a return to pagan pre Christian sexual mores. I fully support sexual freedom but I also think its current form is inherently unhealthy. I say bring back heteronormativity.
This isn’t 16 year olds marrying their girlfriend/boyfriend after getting knocked up. This is 16 year olds marrying 30 year olds (after getting knocked up)
The worst part is specifically so the 30 year old doesn’t go to jail. This is a legal loophole for adults to have sex with children.
Wasn’t there also some weird loophole that prevents married minors from getting a divorce?
I married my first wife when she was 16 and I was 18, because she was put in foster care due to her mom beating the living shit out of her constantly. We did it as a method of emancipating her so she could get out of the system and adopt her sister who has cerebral palsy, and they had separated in the system.
The foster system is alllllll sorts of fucked. My situation is pretty unique though, and I’m not arguing that underage people should be allowed to marry. That shit is wild, and it’s mostly religiously based.
