A bill that would prohibit child marriages in Pennsylvania has been approved by the state House of Representatives.
The bill would make 18 the minimum age to marry in Pennsylvania, which is much better.
The bill’s prime sponsor, Representative Jesse Topper, says while child marriage was not an issue that had his attention when he came to the legislature, he since learned it’s a serious problem.
“From the stories that have been shared with us, we know many of these involve domestic violence,” Topper. “These children don’t have the same rights as an 18-year-old when it comes to terminating these relationships.”
An estimated 248,000 children were married between 2000 and 2010 in the U.S., with 80 percent of those marriages ending in divorce. This is not surprising. Children shouldn’t be rushing into marriages, they should be fully committed to their partner before they decide to enter into a marriage with them. As this divorce rate has clearly proven that child marriages aren’t successful, this bill is looking to put an end to young marriage. Hopefully, the Senate will look at all of this evidence and see that child marriage isn’t beneficial. If the Senate decides to pass this bill, the age will increase to 18. This is a much better age to be able to consent to this sort of thing. Hopefully, there will be more successful marriages following on from the prohibition of child marriage. However, there will always be a significant number of married couples that end up trying to find a divorce attorney los angeles, for example. Some marriages just aren’t meant to be, so divorces will always be seen. However, there will hopefully be a decrease in the divorce rates of younger people with this bill.
The bill now goes to the Senate.