DOCSLIB.ORG

Child Marriage in America:An Interim Solution Pending A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Child Marriage in America:An Interim Solution Pending A Genet.40.6.4 (Do Not Delete) 7/15/2019 4:50 PM CHILD MARRIAGE IN AMERICA: AN INTERIM SOLUTION PENDING A TOTAL BAN Raquel Wildes Genet† “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness.”1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 3000 I. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 3004 A. The Problem with Child Marriage ........................................................... 3004 B. Advocates Seeking Reform Face Challenges ............................................ 3007 C. Historical and Legal Overview ................................................................. 3011 1. The Significance of Eighteen ........................................................ 3013 2. Applying for a Marriage License ................................................. 3013 3. The Role of Parents ....................................................................... 3015 4. Judicial Consent ............................................................................. 3017 5. Recognition of the Marriage in Other States ............................. 3020 † Note Editor, Cardozo Law Review. J.D., Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2019; M.S., Columbia Journalism School, 2016; B.A., Columbia University, 2015. This Note owes much to the guidance of Professors Marci Hamilton and Edward Stein. Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and for being so generous with your time. A special thank you to the editors of the Cardozo Law Review, past and present, and to my Note editor, Jessica Goudreault. To my parents, Amy and Michael, thank you for your constant support. I am forever grateful for your love and guidance. To Monica and David, thank you for encouraging me to pursue my dreams. And finally, to my husband, Aryeh, who I married while writing this Note, thank you for your unwavering loyalty and for making me smile every day. 1 Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12 (1967). 2999 Genet.40.6.4 (Do Not Delete) 7/15/2019 4:50 PM 3000 CARDOZO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:2999 6. Getting Out of the Marriage ......................................................... 3022 II. ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST A TOTAL BAN OF CHILD MARRIAGE .............. 3022 A. The Legal Status of Children ..................................................................... 3023 B. A Child’s Alleged Constitutional Right to Marriage .............................. 3025 C. Balancing the Child’s Desire to Marry with Parental Rights ................ 3026 D. Infringement on Religious Liberty ............................................................ 3028 E. Statutory Consistency ................................................................................ 3030 F. “A Discomfort for Blanket Rules” ............................................................. 3032 III. EIGHTEEN WITH EXCEPTION: AN INTERIM SOLUTION ........................................ 3033 A. Setting the Age Floor at Seventeen ........................................................... 3033 B. Implementation Among the States ........................................................... 3035 C. Procedural Protections .............................................................................. 3036 1. Judicial Consent and Training ..................................................... 3036 2. Parental Consent ............................................................................ 3037 3. Parties to the Marriage .................................................................. 3038 4. Mandatory Waiting Periods and Residency Requirements ..... 3038 5. Child Brides Should be Granted a Full Set of Adult Legal Rights ............................................................................................... 3039 6. A Shrinking Age Gap .................................................................... 3040 IV. COUNTERARGUMENTS ........................................................................................... 3041 A. The Total Ban Should Go into Effect Now .............................................. 3041 B. Girls Younger than Seventeen Should Be Able to Marry ....................... 3042 C. Religious Liberty Sentiment ...................................................................... 3042 D. The Procedural Protections Are Costly .................................................... 3043 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................... 3044 APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................ 3045 INTRODUCTION As an institution integral to family life, the state has always played a regulatory role in marriage.2 But, until recently, a glaring legal issue has 2 Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190, 211 (1888) (“[Marriage] is the foundation of the family and of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor progress.”); C.J. Leah Genet.40.6.4 (Do Not Delete) 7/15/2019 4:50 PM 2019] CHILD MARRIAGE IN AMERICA 3001 been missing from the conversation surrounding marriage in the United States: our child marriage problem. Americans have many misconceptions about child marriage.3 We tend to think of child marriage as happening in foreign, developing countries or among isolated or immigrant communities, but recent reports show that the practice is pervasive throughout America’s borders.4 “Loopholes” in state marriage laws have enabled children to marry in our own backyards.5 Between 2000 and 2015, at least 207,459 minors were married in the United States.6 Approximately ninety percent of minors who married were female—mostly sixteen- or seventeen-years-old.7 On occasion, however, children as young as ten, eleven, and twelve were granted marriage licenses in Alaska, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee.8 Only some of these marriages involved two minors.9 A vast majority of the time, a minor’s spouse was eighteen, nineteen, or in his early twenties, but around 500 minors were permitted to marry partners Ward Sears, The “Marriage Gap”: A Case for Strengthening Marriage in the 21st Century, 82 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1243 (“[T]he health of the institution of marriage is directly related to the health of our children and communities.”); NANCY F. COTT, PUBLIC VOWS: A HISTORY OF MARRIAGE AND THE NATION 1–2 (Harvard Univ. Press 2002). 3 For the purpose of this Note, child marriage will be defined as any marriage to which a party is under eighteen years old. 4 See, e.g., Anjali Tsui, Dan Nolan & Chris Amico, Child Marriage in America: By the Numbers, FRONTLINE (July 6, 2017), http://apps.frontline.org/child-marriage-by-the-numbers [https://perma.cc/E9T9-3QY4]; TAHIRIH JUSTICE CTR., FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: HOW LAWS ALLOW CHILD MARRIAGE TO HAPPEN IN TODAY’S AMERICA (2017), https:// www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/TahirihChildMarriageReport-1.pdf [https:// perma.cc/95BR-7RVK] [hereinafter TAHIRIH JUSTICE CTR. REPORT]. 5 See, e.g., Melissa Jeltsen, Grown Men Are Exploiting Loopholes in State Laws to Marry Children, HUFFPOST (Aug. 30, 2017, 12:01 AM), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/child- marriage-state-laws_n_59a5e70ee4b00795c2a27e19 [https://perma.cc/QCR7-HMYJ]; Jasmine Garsd, Child Brides Are a Little-Known, but Very Real, Problem in America Today, PUB. RADIO INT’L (Mar. 17, 2017, 7:30 PM), https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-03-17/child-brides-are-little- known-problem-america-today [https://perma.cc/E8YJ-P5WP]. 6 Tsui, supra note 4 (analyzing marriage records from forty-one states and the largest counties in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico, conducting one of the most compressive surveys to date). 7 Id. Because a majority of child marriages in the United States involve a minor girl, female pronouns will be used throughout this Note. 8 Id. 9 Id. Genet.40.6.4 (Do Not Delete) 7/15/2019 4:50 PM 3002 CARDOZO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:2999 in their forties, fifties, and sixties.10 As the law stands in about half of the states, a child bride can wed at almost any age so long as she has a parent’s consent.11 While it is true that the number of child marriages has, overall, dropped, child marriage still persists across the United States— especially among rural, low-income populations,12 like in Idaho, where 84 out of every 10,000 marriages over the past fifteen years included a child.13 Idaho is one of eighteen states that do not set an age floor for marriage.14 In those states, a child can be married at any age if the statutory exceptions are met.15 Currently, the minimum age at which one could legally marry without exception is highest (at eighteen) in only two states: Delaware and New Jersey.16 Six states follow with no marriage permitted for individuals under seventeen.17 In those states, there are no circumstances that would permit anyone under the age of seventeen to wed.18 But those types of statutes have not been adopted across the nation.19 For example, a 1907 New Hampshire law permitting a thirteen-year-old girl to marry with parental consent was on the books 10 Id. 11 These states include: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. See TAHIRIH JUSTICE CTR. REPORT, supra note 4, at 32–34 (appendices);
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Married Too Young? the Behavioral Ecology of 'Child Marriage'
    social sciences $€ £ ¥ Review Married Too Young? The Behavioral Ecology of ‘Child Marriage’ Susan B. Schaffnit 1,* and David W. Lawson 2 1 Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA 2 Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: For girls and women, marriage under 18 years is commonplace in many low-income nations today and was culturally widespread historically. Global health campaigns refer to marriage below this threshold as ‘child marriage’ and increasingly aim for its universal eradication, citing its apparent negative wellbeing consequences. Here, we outline and evaluate four alternative hypotheses for the persistence of early marriage, despite its associations with poor wellbeing, arising from the theoretical framework of human behavioral ecology. First, early marriage may be adaptive (e.g., it maximizes reproductive success), even if detrimental to wellbeing, when life expectancy is short. Second, parent– offspring conflict may explain early marriage, with parents profiting economically at the expense of their daughter’s best interests. Third, early marriage may be explained by intergenerational conflict, whereby girls marry young to emancipate themselves from continued labor within natal households. Finally, both daughters and parents from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds favor early marriage as a ‘best of a bad job strategy’ when it represents the best option given a lack of feasible alternatives. The explanatory power of each hypothesis is context-dependent, highlighting the complex drivers of life history transitions and reinforcing the need for context-specific policies Citation: Schaffnit, Susan B., and addressing the vulnerabilities of adolescence worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall-2019-Conference-Speakers-1
    Guest Speakers Dr. Sharon L. Sullivan Dr. Sharon L. Sullivan has degrees from Smith College, Washington University and the University of Kansas. She is a Professor at Washburn University. Her research and activism focus on violence against women and children, including sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking, and rape as a weapon of war. Sharon is cofounder and director of STARS (Stop Trafficking and Reject Slavery), a member of the Advisory Board for the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice, a member of the Kansas Human Trafficking Advisory Board, and President of the International Public Policy Institute. She is also an active supporter of the Topeka YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment. Sharon has presented multiple times about Human Trafficking at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She currently co-chairs the Topeka Shawnee County Human Trafficking Coalition. Fraidy Reiss - Founder/Executive Director, Unchained At Last Fraidy was 19 when her family arranged for her to marry a man who turned out to be violent. But with no education or job, in an insular religious community where only men have the right to grant a divorce, she felt trapped. Still trapped at age 27, Fraidy defied her husband and community to become the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated from Rutgers University at age 32 as valedictorian (called “commencement speaker” at Rutgers). Her family declared her dead, but Fraidy persevered: With her journalism degree, she was hired as a reporter for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey, eventually getting promoted to the paper’s elite investigative-reporting team.
    [Show full text]
  • Marriage and Family: LGBT Individuals and Same-Sex Couples Marriage and Family: LGBT Individuals and Same-Sex Couples
    Marriage and Family: LGBT Individuals and Same-Sex Couples Marriage and Family: LGBT Individuals and Same-Sex Couples Gary J. Gates Summary Though estimates vary, as many as 2 million to 3.7 million U.S. children under age 18 may have a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender parent, and about 200,000 are being raised by same-sex couples. Much of the past decade’s legal and political debate over allowing same-sex couples to marry has centered on these couples’ suitability as parents, and social scientists have been asked to weigh in. After carefully reviewing the evidence presented by scholars on both sides of the issue, Gary Gates concludes that same-sex couples are as good at parenting as their different-sex counterparts. Any differences in the wellbeing of children raised in same-sex and different-sex families can be explained not by their parents’ gender composition but by the fact that children being by raised by same-sex couples have, on average, experienced more family instability, because most children being raised by same-sex couples were born to different-sex parents, one of whom is now in the same-sex relationship. That pattern is changing, however. Despite growing support for same-sex parenting, proportionally fewer same-sex couples report raising children today than in 2000. Why? Reduced social stigma means that more LGBT people are coming out earlier in life. They’re less likely than their LGBT counterparts from the past to have different-sex relationships and the children such relationships produce. At the same time, more same-sex couples are adopting children or using reproductive technologies like artificial insemination and surrogacy.
    [Show full text]
  • When Marriage Is Too Much: Reviving the Registered Partnership in a Diverse Society Abstract
    M ARY C HARLOTTE Y . C ARROLL When Marriage Is Too Much: Reviving the Registered Partnership in a Diverse Society abstract. In the years since same-sex marriage’s legalization, many states have repealed their civil union and domestic partnership laws, creating a marriage-or-nothing binary for couples in search of relationship recognition. This Note seeks to add to the growing call for legal recognition of partnership pluralism by illustrating why marriage is not the right fit—or even a realistic choice—for all couples. It highlights in particular the life-or-death consequences matrimony can bring for those reliant on government healthcare benefits because of a disability or a need for long- term care. Building upon interview data and a survey of state nonmarital partnership policies, it proposes the creation of a customizable marriage alternative: the registered partnership. author. Yale Law School, J.D. 2020; University of Cambridge, M.Phil. approved 2017; Rice University, B.A. 2016. I am grateful first and foremost to Anne Alstott, whose endless support, encouragement, and feedback enabled me to write this Note. I am further indebted to Frederik Swennen and Wilfried Rault for taking the time to speak with me about nonmarital partnerships in France and Belgium and to Kaiponanea T. Matsumura and Michael J. Higdon for invaluable guidance on nonmarital partnerships in the United States. Thanks also to the wonderful editors of the Yale Law Journal’s Notes & Comments Committee, especially Abigail Fisch, for their thoughtful comments; to the First- and Second-Year Editors, for their careful review of my Note; and to the Streicker Fund for Student Research, whose generosity made it possible for me to con- duct the research that informed this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom of Marriage: an Analysis of Positive and Negative Rights Rachel A
    Washington University Jurisprudence Review Volume 8 | Issue 1 2015 Freedom of Marriage: An Analysis of Positive and Negative Rights Rachel A. Washburn Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_jurisprudence Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, and the Legal Theory Commons Recommended Citation Rachel A. Washburn, Freedom of Marriage: An Analysis of Positive and Negative Rights, 8 Wash. U. Jur. Rev. 087 (2015). Available at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_jurisprudence/vol8/iss1/4 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington University Jurisprudence Review by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FREEDOM OF MARRIAGE: AN ANALYSIS OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE RIGHTS RACHEL ALYCE WASHBURN ABSTRACT The institution of marriage is deeply embedded in modern society. Within the United States, legal recognition of marriage conveys both social dignity and material benefits to married individuals. As far back as 1967, the Supreme Court has treated freedom of marriage as a Constitutional right necessary to protect personhood rights such as liberty and autonomy. However, it did not fully extend this right to same-sex couples until its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Justice Scalia criticizes the majority opinion in Obergefell as lacking logic and precision, yet it reconciles jurisprudential discrepancies in prior case law addressing the right of marriage. These discrepancies are rooted in the contrasting negative and positive rights analytics of Immanuel Kant and Georg Willhelm Friedrich Hegel, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • POLYGAMY and CHILD MARRIAGE in CANADA
    FACT SHEET POLYGAMY and CHILD MARRIAGE in CANADA In Canada, child marriage is closely linked to polygamous marriage. In Bountiful, a community of about 1,000 in southern British Columbia, polygamy has been openly practiced for more than half a century. It is practiced by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). Polygamy is a central tenet of their faith. It is common among them for men to marry many wives. There are thousands of other FLDS members and members of other sects practicing polygamy in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Idaho, and Mexico. None of these sects are associated with the larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which disavowed polygamy in 1890. Risk Factors Associated with Polygamy • Increased chance of emotional, behavioral, and physical problems in children • Lower educational achievement and a devaluation of education • Rivalry amongst co-wives • Increased risk of health problems due to early sexual activity and pregnancy • Young men being forced out of the communities because of competition for wives and consequently having few social supports • The perpetuation of harmful gender stereotypes There are serious allegations of child sexual abuse occurring among the FLDS. Allegations have been made that girls as young as 14 and 15 have been married in the community to much older men and that these girls have been told that refusing these unions would ensure their eternal damnation. Former FLDS members also allege that girls as young as 13 are trafficked across the BC/Idaho border to become brides. Former polygamous wives contend that typical religious polygamy elevates some men above all others, and women and children are nothing more than property.
    [Show full text]
  • Child Marriage Has Negative Effects on Adolescents' Health and Is a Cause
    LEGAL MINIMUM AGES AND THE REALIZATION OF ADOLESCENTS’ RIGHTS MINIMUM AGE FOR MARRIAGE • International standards set the minimum age of marriage at 18. ABSOLUTE MINIMUM AGE OF MARRIAGE WITH PARENTAL OR JUDGE CONSENT OR EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES • Child marriage has numerous long-term negative implications on children’s rights, in particular the right to education, the right to express views, the right to be protected from violence, and the right to health, among others. Girls are particularly vulnerable to the practice, with significant impact on their development and gender equality in general. • Rates of child marriage in the Latin America and the Caribbean remain significant and close to global averages. However, they have not decreased in recent years like in other regions. • Child marriage – i.e. marriage when at least one of the intending spouses is under 18 – is generally forbidden under international standards, although recent evolutions provide for the possibility for adolescents over 16 to marry under specific circumstances and on their own consent, through judicial approval. • While providing that adolescents can fully consent to marriage on their own no data available at 18, legislations in the overwhelming majority of countries provide for the possibility for children to get married with parental and/or a judge’s consent. 12 years old 14 years old • Approximately one third of the countries have different minimum ages 15 years old for marriage for boys and girls, thus effectively featuring discriminatory 16 years old This map is stylized and it is not to scale. It does not legislation. reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any 18 years old country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.
    [Show full text]
  • Section I: the Marriage Preparation Process
    Section I: The Marriage Preparation Process STAGE ONE: INTRODUCTIONS AND ORIENTATIONS Marriage Preparation: A Commitment Of Time.................................................................................. 8 Why Take The Time And Make The Effort? A Couple’s First Contact With The Parish ........................................................................................... 9 The Importance Of A Welcoming Atmosphere Initial Meeting(s) With The Couple ..................................................................................................... 10 A Time For Evangelization And Discernment Addressing A Couple’s Experience And Needs ................................................................................... 11 Benefits Of A Premarital Inventory The Engagement Blessing.................................................................................................................... 12 A New Opportunity For Families And Parish STAGE TWO: MARRIAGE CATECHESIS AND FORMATION Participation In A Shared Preparation Process ................................................................................. 13 Facilitating Attendance At Marriage Preparation Programs The Marriage Preparation Program ................................................................................................... 14 A Church Community Sharing Its Faith, Wisdom And Love STAGE THREE: PASTORAL SESSIONS, WEDDING LITURGY AND BEYOND Affirmation Of The Couple’s Readiness For Marriage .....................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Marriage Equality and the Supreme Court a Guide to What Is at Stake in Upcoming Rulings
    Marriage Equality and the Supreme Court A Guide to What Is at Stake in Upcoming Rulings By Crosby Burns and Joshua Field June 10, 2013 This month the Supreme Court will deliver two historic rulings that will affect thou- sands of committed same-sex couples throughout the United States. InHollingsworth v. Perry, the Court will determine the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, which stripped same-sex couples in California of their right to marriage in 2008.1 Approximately 109,000 same-sex couples lost the freedom to marry in California that year.2 In United States v. Windsor, the Court will rule on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, a federal law passed in 1996 that defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman for the purposes of more than 1,000 federal laws and programs.3 DOMA implicates everything from veterans’ benefits to immigra- tion to federal estate taxes, and it unfairly discriminates against legally married same-sex couples by denying them federal benefits and protections currently enjoyed by oppo- site-sex couples.4 In 2003 the Supreme Court affirmed the civil rights of gay and lesbian Americans in the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas by invalidating state antisodomy laws that prohibited consensual sex between people of the same gender.5 Ten years later the Supreme Court is poised to deliver two similarly monumental rulings that could have sweeping implica- tions for gay and lesbian couples in the United States. The Supreme Court has consistently and repeatedly affirmed that marriage
    [Show full text]
  • Top of Page Interview Information--Different Title
    Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California The Freedom to Marry Oral History Project Evan Wolfson Evan Wolfson on the Leadership of the Freedom to Marry Movement Interviews conducted by Martin Meeker in 2015 and 2016 Copyright © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Evan Wolfson dated July 15, 2016. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley.
    [Show full text]
  • Child Marriage and POVERTY
    Child Marriage and POVERTY Child marriage is most common in the world’s poorest countries and is often concentrated among the poorest households within those countries. It is closely linked with poverty and low levels of economic development. In families with limited resources, child marriage is often seen as a way to provide for their daughter’s future. But girls who marry young are IFAD / Anwar Hossein more likely to be poor and remain poor. CHILD MARRIAGE Is INTIMATELY shows that household economic status is a key factor in CONNEctED to PovERTY determining the timing of marriage for girls (along with edu- cation and urban-rural residence, with rural girls more likely Child marriage is highly prevalent in sub- to marry young). In fact, girls living in poor households are Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia, the approximately twice as likely to marry before 18 than girls two most impoverished regions of the world.1 living in better-off households.4 • More than half of the girls in Bangladesh, Mali, Mozam- In Côte d’Ivoire, a target country for the President’s Emer- bique and Niger are married before age 18. In these same gency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), girls in the poorest countries, more than 75 percent of people live on less than $2 a day. In Child Marriage in the Poorest and Richest Households Mali, 91 percent of the in Select Countries population lives on less 80 than $2 a day. 2 70 • Countries with low GDPs tend to have a higher 60 prevalence of child mar- riage.
    [Show full text]
  • Frequently Asked Questions About Why a Minimum Age of Marriage of 18
    Frequently asked questions about why a minimum age of marriage of 18 In many countries, there have been moves to strengthen legal frameworks to address child marriage, including by increasing the minimum age of marriage to 18. Civil society advocating for such legislation have come across resistance from policy-makers, often facing similar arguments across countries. We spoke to Girls Not Brides members in seven countries to find out how they respond to these arguments, and which arguments work best.1 This FAQ document lays out a set of commonly asked questions and provides suggestions for how to respond to them. It is a working document which we hope to update regularly with new insights from Girls Not Brides members and partners advocating for a minimum age of 18. Interested in sharing insights from your country on these questions? Let us know! 1. Shouldn’t there be exceptions in certain circumstances? The situations in which exceptions are used in abusive ways far outweigh the circumstances in which maybe just maybe a child marriage helps resolve a difficult situation for a girl who truly wishes to marry. 2. What about exceptions for pregnant girls? Or girls who could face risks of ‘honour killing’ if they can’t marry? Isn’t marriage then the safest option for girls? Adolescent pregnancy leads to health risks to both mother and child marrying girls off is not the solution; we should be helping girls to be able to make choices to avoid early pregnancy in the first place. A rights violation (child marriage) should never be the solution to another rights violation (statutory/forcible rape, or lack of access to contraception/abortion/family planning information and /or the risk of ‘honour killing’).
    [Show full text]