Ah, Those Pretty Young Brides!

   

Ah, Those Pretty Young Brides!

But at Least It Doesn’t Happen Here, Right?

"There is nothing romantic about child marriage. There is nothing romantic about a human rights abuse and about a Kafkaesque legal trap that minors cannot easily get out of." Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director, Unchained at Last.

In 2016, with statistical help from Pew Research, the World Economic Forum made this observation: “If current trends continue, the number of girls who marry as children will reach nearly one billion by 2030. That’s according to the UN, which launched an initiative earlier this year [2016] to protect girls from child marriage… Girls who marry as children are less likely to achieve their full potential. They are more likely to leave education early, suffer domestic violence, contract HIV/AIDS and die due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth – their bodies simply aren’t ready.

“But child marriage also hurts countries’ economies. It damages social and economic development and leads to a cycle of poverty between generations… And yet, at least 117 countries around the world allow it to happen, according to the Pew Research Center… Pew looked at 198 countries and found that almost all (192) of them have laws that specify when people can legally marry. (Only six countries – Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen – do not specify a minimum age for marriage.)” Thank God, the United States does not have that problem, right? Not exactly.

According to Equality Now, as of July 12, 2023: “Child marriage occurs when one or both of the parties to the marriage are below the age of 18. Child marriage is currently legal in 38 states (only Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont have set the minimum age at 18 and eliminated all exceptions), and 20 U.S. states do not require any minimum age for marriage, with a parental or judicial waiver. Nearly 300,00 children were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018. The vast majority were girls wed to adult men, many much older.” Simply, Americans who want legal child brides can find states where such unions are legal. The May 28th Newsweek tells us:

“Jenn Bradbury is among those who got married before becoming an adult… Bradbury, now 45, married a 44-year-old friend of her father when she was 16 years old, after what she told Newsweek was years of grooming that began when she was 14… She said that when her father found out about the abuse, he blamed and tried to kill her, leading to her mother removing her from her father's home in Louisiana and moving her to Florida, but the abuse did not end, Bradbury said… The friend of her father continued to visit, providing a house phone and utilities for her family while she says he continued sexually abusing her, eventually leading to an ectopic pregnancy…

“Bradbury says that her mother believed the only way to fix the situation was to have the two get married, so they did. Years of challenges would follow… ‘The judge didn't stop it. The clerk didn't say anything. No one stopped it. They just let it happen because it's allowed,’ Bradbury said… She eventually left her marriage and now uses her experience to advocate for states to change their laws to end child marriage. She has testified about her experience in states including Connecticut and Massachusetts, which have both stopped allowing the practice of child marriage.” Young female bodies are often physically unable to engage in expected sexual practices or give birth to a healthy child. Parental “waivers” are particularly disgusting; for too many such parents, it’s about the money. Newsweek continues:

“Child marriage is often ‘hiding in plain sight,’ Casey Swegman, director of public policy at the Tahirih Justice Center, told Newsweek… Children may be forced into marriages for many reasons, such as attempts to control female sexuality, ‘correct’ a person's sexuality or cover up statutory rape, she said, adding the issue affects all communities, regardless of religious background and socioeconomic status… ‘When we think about a child who is entering a legal contract with an adult, an adult who has years more life experience, who better understands their rights and resources, you are entering an imbalanced relationship from day one, whether its forced or not,’ Swegman said.

“Some teenagers may view marriage as an escape from a home where there is addiction or unmet mental health needs, but they are ‘often going from a frying pan to fire situation,’ Swegman warned. There is ‘almost always’ sexual abuse in these marriages, which isolate children from family, teachers and friends.” That “Kafkaesque legal trap” noted in the opening quote above is a harsh, double standard in many states: old enough to get married, but not old enough to have the legal right to sign a contract or file for divorce. It often becomes a wrong with no solution.

Fraidy Reiss noted that “domestic shelters routinely turn away unaccompanied minors. If children try to run away from home to escape a forced marriage [in some states], police may return them because it is a status offense to leave home before the age of 18, she said… An adult in this situation might try to retain an attorney to help them figure out where do I go? What do I do? A minor can't easily do even that because contracts with minors typically are voidable,’ she said. ‘It's a worthless piece of paper. And what attorney wants to take on a child as a client?’” Newsweek. This anomaly generally occurs with greater frequency in poorer, red states, but anybody can travel to a permissive state no matter where in the US they may reside.

I’m Peter Dekom, and this entire disgusting practice must stop, everywhere, but there is particularly no excuse for allowing this practice in the United States of America!