Florida approves limit, but not ban, on child marriage

in approves •  7 years ago 

NEW YORK, March 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Florida approved a bill on Friday banning child marriage under the age of 17, one of the strictest measures in the nation, advocates said.

The measure, which goes to the governor for signature, is a compromise reached this week by legislators after an earlier version sought to ban marriage for anyone under 18.

The Florida governor intends to sign the bill into law, a spokeswoman said.

Child marriage is legal across the United States. While 18 is typically the minimum age, every state has legal loopholes or exceptions allowing children to wed at a younger age.
Under the new Florida measure, children aged 17 can marry with parental consent but face requirements such as a premarital preparation course. Also, 17-year-olds cannot marry someone more than two years older.

"I'm very happy, even though it's not at the top line of 18. I can deal with the line of 17 with all of the requirements," said Sherry Johnson, a former child bride who had helped promote the measure.

"It eliminates just getting married," Johnson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "You have to show responsibility to get married."

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Source: http://www.asianage.com/world/americas/100318/florida-passes-strictest-law-in-us-doesnt-ban-limits-age-for-child-marriage.html

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Thank You!

nspalash? You just provided an article about the pros for this law. Would you be willing to write an article about the cons of it? I know that there are a lot of people in my nation who are opposed to this bill and the likes of it in other state jurisdictions. If these righteous do-gooders who are seeking to pass this law are so self-assured of its popularity, it would only seem logical that they would have left it up to the voters to decide this law by putting it on their November ballot in the form of a proposition, measure or question instead of allowing the legislators to decide its fate.

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Very strange

Well, if you're talking about the two-year-age-difference limit in the provision of this law for 17-year-old girls, then I would have to agree with you that it is very strange. What makes these righteous do-gooders believe that an 18- and 19-year-old young man is going to be much better equipped economically to wed and take care of his 17-year-old pregnant girlfriend than a man 20 years old or older? This law would actually be taking our nation closer to becoming a reactionary police state. These older men are treating these teenage girls they marry better than all the deadbeat teenage fathers are treating their underage baby mommies, but nobody in our nation wants to acknowledge that fact.