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.
I think I know how it happens, if one doesn’t want their day to be more depressing, one should stop reading now…
I know someone who got married at 15 years old. I remember her being pregnant when I met my wife in 2007. As I recall her mom had to sign something for permission. The woman is in her early 30’s now, her husband is mid-40’s. They don’t have the best relationship, but they’ve been married a long time and have four children, they’ve been in a few self-inflicted bad spots and have managed to make it. I don’t know the specifics, but it appeared that the girl had a decision between a guy with a job who liked her, and a mom who was too busy chasing men and doing drugs to take care of her children.