I very much hope that the provisions of this bill, and the purpose with which they are proposed, are clear and uncontroversial. Quite plainly, this legislation would formally establish eighteen as the minimum marriageable age throughout the Commonwealth of Fremont, and bar officials from issuing marriage licenses to persons below the age of majority. As of this writing, all eighteen constituent states allow some or all minors to marry with parental consent, and a majority have no minimum age at all.
Why is this a problem? As noted by Nicholas Kristof in a recently-published article in the
New York Times, many (if not most) of these child marriages are coercive, often wedding young girls to men old enough to be their fathers. Outside of wedlock, these relationships would constitute statutory rape; and in many cases, marriage is proposed as a
post facto work-around to save sexual predators from facing criminal charges. (
Source) This is simply unacceptable, and it disgraces the good name of our Commonwealth to provide legal sanction to such abominations.
Furthermore, it seems remarkably inconsistent to bar minors, by law, from drinking, driving, taking a loan, and (in real life) voting, while giving child marriages a thumbs-up. I recommend this bill to the House in the strongest possible terms, in the hope that we may bring a swift end to this abhorrent practice.