On Friday, July 1, Virginia enforced a new law that bans child marriage in the state. It might sound ridiculous in this day and age, but young girls entering into marriage does take place in a free world like America. In fact, local governments have been trying for years to amend the laws covering this.
Before Virginia's law took effect, girls as young as 12 or 13 could actually get married if they were pregnant or had their parents' permission. But the ban was laid out to supposedly reduce the incidents of forced marriage, human trafficking and rape among minors, per the Independent. Apparently, many use marriage as an excuse to abuse the young girls.
The state of Virginia has now set the marriage age limit to 18-years-old and above, and 16-years-old if the child has been emancipated from her parents. Data obtained by the Tahirih Justice Center, which advocates against child marriage, revealed that there were some 220 girls below the age of 15 who got married in Virginia from 2000 to 2013. In those years, some 4,500 child marriages were also logged in the records.
Why Virginia's legislature just passed a bill to ban child marriage https://t.co/PoS3b6xQGM
— End Slavery Now (@EndSlaveryNow) March 14, 2016
The same situation is also happening in states like Maryland and New York. Legislators in these states have passed similar measures, but its approval either remains in deliberation or has been dropped altogether.
The data also showed that young girls have been married to men who are at least decades older than them. This is partly why advocates are pushing local governments to end this practice. Jeanne Smoooth from the Tahirih is hoping other legislators will follow what Virginia has done.
Studies have shown that girls who marry at an early age are highly likely to drop out of high school and end up developing health problems, both mentally and physically. Worse, the divorce rate for child marriage is at 80 percent, per Washington Post. Thus, these girls will also have to deal with putting their life back on track at such a young age after a divorce.
