Child you're a woman now

[Gob]

Why does the US have so many child brides?

Angel was 13 when her mother forced her to marry and start a family. "I felt like a slave," she says of her childhood.

While countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi and El Salvador have recently banned child marriage, it remains legal in the US - and half of states have no set minimum age below which you cannot get married.

For the BBC's America First? series the BBC's Aleem Maqbool is exploring health and social issues where the US, the richest country in the world, does not perform well in international rankings.

Video on page

[Joe Guy]

Are there states that allow infants to be married without parental consent? Imagine the baby boom we would have if babies were allowed to boom boom.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yes there was an item on today's BBC news (relayed by my local NPR) about this. I found this article in the Independent - I had no idea that marriages as young as 10 years old were legal in Tennessee.

[Burning Petard]

When I moved to Delaware in 1972, the bottom legal age to marry, with parental consent was 12. I think is has been moved up to 16, but I don't really know. I believe it is now 18 without parental consent.

snailgate

[Big RR]

12 for girls and 14 for boys used to be the common law minimum, but many states have no recited statutory limit so it may well apply in them. Generally, the minimum age in most states is 18, with younger ages being subjected to more scrutiny (often a combination of parental consent, judicial approval, and an "extenuating" circumstance such as pregnancy). I do not think there is a state in the US that allows marriage below the age of 18 without parental consent.

[rubato]

It appears to be changing:

The analysis shows that the number of minors marrying has fallen by more than half since 2000.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/artic ... total-ban/


yrs,
rubato

[Jarlaxle]

I'm surprised it still happens, though married younger than 18 used to be common. (My grandmother was 16.)

[Guinevere]

Yes there was an item on today's BBC news (relayed by my local NPR) about this. I found this article in the Independent - I had no idea that marriages as young as 10 years old were legal in Tennessee.

I listened to the BBC news piece as well. 200,000 children were married off between 2000 and 2015, in many cases by their parents as a means to further exert control. Horrifying.

[datsunaholic]

I'm surprised it still happens, though married younger than 18 used to be common. (My grandmother was 16.)

My grandmother was 17. Her mother was 16.

In my grandmother's case it was likely to escape an alcoholic stepfather. In my great-grandmother's case, well, I have a theory but my family doesn't like my theory (based on simple math and other factors).

[Big RR]

My mother was 16 (my father was 24) and, so far as I know, there were no extenuating circumstances (other than her escape from an alcoholic stepfather who was a would be pedophile).

Personally, I wouldn't want to see it banned entirely, but there should be a procedure to protect the parties--perhaps private counseling with a report to the judge who would have to approve the granting of a license, coupled with parental approval.