Do you think there should be a federal law prohibiting child marriages in the US?

What’s a child? What age is the lower limit?

The primary issue @Brian1946 is that you are going to have some religious kooks who are going to complain that state or federal laws are abridging their religious obligations to rape underage girls.

There should be one sensible law across the whole country – 18 years old with no exceptions.

And while they are at it, drop the drinking age to 18, too.

OP addendum: Should there be a federal law setting the minimum age for marriage at 18 years?

@elbanditoroso

“The primary issue @Brian1946 is that you are going to have some religious kooks who are going to complain that state or federal laws are abridging their religious obligations to rape underage girls.”

And a lot of these wannabe child rapers have the audacity and hypocrisy to claim that gay people are pedophiles.

Well….my ex married his first wife when she was 15. He was 21. They had her parent’s consent. The were Jehova Witnesses FWIW. Now it strikes me as horrifying but it didn’t then. Struck me as weird then.
But yes. There should be a federal law governing age of consent for girls and boys.

My Mom got married my Dad at barely 16. They had a long, happy marriage.

I’d rather put it this way: that the law should enable marriages between people over a certain age and should protect children.

The original Tenneessee law did NOT have an age specification…in effect making it legal for adult males to marry & have sex with 1 or 2 year olds or possibly infants. When asked, Rep. Tom Leatherwood, R-Arlington,the lawmaker proposing the bill admitted that he was aware that there was NO protection of our smallest child & the citizens of Tennessee went crazy wanting their children protected from pedophiles. So the Leatherwood added an addendum stating that the child must be 18 in order to marry.

I think Leatherwood left the age limit out on purpose because the purpose of the bill was to make it illegal for same sex couples to get married in the state of Tennessee & the outrage would have been focused on that subject where now it is focused on underage children getting married.

Once Leatherwood tweaks his bill sufficiently to get it passed & through any court challenges, all other red states will adopt it as their master plan!!!

This is arguably a states’ rights issue. The constitution explicitly delegates the authority to the states for this kind of thing. On the flip side, I could see how it’s also a civil liberties issue that children ought to be protected. Either way it’s wrong for old dudes to marry young girls and it’s weird that in 2022 we’re still struggling with the laws on such a basic idea that nearly every American agrees with.

I’d say 17 as a federal minimum probably.

Do we need a federal minimum? I don’t know.

I think it’s somewhat of a joke that parents can approve a young marriage in some states. Probably, half the time when teens want to get married it’s to get away from their parents. Then you have arranged and forced marriages as mentioned in the article, usually with the parents cooperation. A Good friend of mine was forced to marry by her family (she lived in the UK) I think she was 19, I’m not 100% sure what her age was. Maybe she was younger.

Some people probably want young marriage for teens who get accidentally pregnant. So the baby is born in wedlock. The father has much fewer automatic rights in most states if he isn’t married to the mother.

Yes.
Lets protect the children.
Marriage only after age 18 years or even older.
Even at 18 years old one is still in the dark about life yet.
Good idea that someone should not marry until they are well on there own in life to understand resposibilites and mature goals to stive for.

^^ I know some 50 y/o’s who still don’t understand “responsibilities & mature goals to strive for”. On the other side, I’ve known 13 y/o’s who have MORE sense than both of their parents!!!

Parents NEED the caveat “with parental consent” for when their 14 y/o daughter comes up pregnant so they can get her married fast enough to have that 9 month baby in 6 months. Maybe we just need to make it OK to have bastid babies so there is NO stigma associated with getting pregnant before getting married!!! We’ve removed it from the adults, WHY not the children??? That would take care of the abortion problem as well because with NO stigma, they’d need NO abortion!!!

Now that we can do DNA tests to PROVE he IS the father, maybe we should FORCE the daddy to be financially responsible for getting his girl pregnant!!!

@LadyMarissa The state does order the fathers to pay child support. Some states also make the father pay for the paternity test. The father has ZERO legal rights to see the child in many states if he is not married to the mother at the time of birth, and he has to pay child support. For the father to get visitation and/or some custody, he has to file with the court for visitation or parenting time.

If I had a teenage son who was having a baby, I would really look into my state’s laws, and possibly encourage him to get married, depending on the situation, so he (and I) would have more likelihood of being part of the baby’s life.

@JLeslie
Except in cases where the female was raped, as she and the family wouldn’t want him around nor give him any rights to that child.

Nothing funner than being coherced into a life long commitment with someone you don’t love for Gramma’s convenience.

Inspired_2write Of course. A lot of the laws about paternal rights go back to not being able to know for sure who the father is. Legally, the husband of the mother was the father.

Some states have given some rights to biological fathers automatically, but many the fathers have no rights until they argue for them. If your 17 year old son had a baby with his 16 year old girlfriend, do you want your son and family to be completely shut out and have your son obligated to pay part of his wages for the baby?

Most births are not from rape, that’s a very very small percentage, but I understand the the horror of a rapist having automatic rights to see the child. Hopefully, the rapist is in jail and that subject is moot.

If your 17 year old son had a baby with his 16 year old girlfriend, do you want your son and family to be completely shut out and have your son obligated to pay part of his wages for the baby?

NO, I want my 16 y/o daughter to be a single mother, WITHOUT a job, & living with me while the 17 y/o daddy is out bedding every girl he can stick his penis into…making MORE babies!!! My son would be helping to take care of the baby whether it’s babysitting on a Friday night or giving her HALF his salary. He should have kept his penis in his pants…she didn’t get pregnant all by herself!!!

@LadyMarissa Depending on the state, your son has no rights to see his son without taking legal action. You’re not getting it. He doesn’t have the right to “babysit” to show he loves his son and wants to take responsibility in that realm; the mother can tell him no.

The state will order him to pay up if he’s working, you don’t have to worry about that. The state definitely cares about the father paying.

Are you saying you want your 17 year old son to quit school and work? I wouldn’t want either teen to give up any part of their education. We’re talking about teenagers, I don’t know why you’re so angry. They made a mistake. I’d do everything I could whether it was my son or daughter so they could have as close to a normal situation as possible. They screwed up being able to go out a lot with their friends, because they have a responsibility to care for the baby, but it shouldn’t mean they can’t finish school, can’t go to college, etc. I would sacrifice my free time and help watch the baby and help financially so my child could finish school. I luckily would have the means to help, obviously some families don’t.

Part-time work yes, I think all teens should work, but quitting school or working full time, I wouldn’t want either teen parent to do that.

^^ Please show me where I said anything about quitting school, & working full time for either the male or the female. I said my son would be giving half his pay…NEVER said where that pay was coming from…it might be 2 hours a week at McDonalds!!!

@LadyMarissa Well, eventually he will be done with school and working full time. Either way, he will be paying and the mom will have every right to not allow him to see his child (in those states that don’t give bio dads automatic rights). Child support lasts18 years.

Well DUH…when he’s done with school, he should be working full-time & he definitely should be supporting his own baby!!! Not sure what states you keep referencing that gives bio dads NO rights. Is that another DeSantis law???

^^No, I’m pretty sure Florida does give some rights once paternity is established, but I’m not positive of the ins and outs, I never looked into it here. Still probably need to sign a paper or go to court.

A friend of mine used to volunteer time to help Michigan unwed dads prepare paperwork to petition for visiting or partial custody. Going to court costs money.

Here’s Georgia as an example https://www.danielstaylor.com/blog/2019/october/2-ways-to-protect-your-custody-rights-as-an-unma/

You can look up your state, I don’t remember where you live.

States give 50/50 consideration to both parents as default .

^^The unwed father needs to prove he’s the parent (DNA test if the mother isn’t agreeing) and then file papers to be able to see the baby if the mother isn’t going along with the father visiting or have some “custody” time. Time and money for the father to secure his rights.

In divorce situations states lean towards 50/50, and the father is already established.

It varies by state of course.