Delaware Becomes First State to Ban Child Marriage

[de officiis]

Delaware Becomes First State to Ban Child Marriage

On Wednesday, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law a bill setting the minimum marriage age at 18, making his state the first in the U.S. to ban child marriage.

. . . Previously, a minor in that state could get married at any age with a judge’s approval.

. . . Delaware is now the only state where minors are unequivocally prevented from marrying before their 18th birthday. Forty-nine other states and the District of Columbia all allow minors to marry under certain circumstances, often with parental consent or a judge’s approval.

More than 207,000 people under 18 were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2014, . . . . While most minors were 16 or 17 years old, some were as young as 12.

In Delaware, some 200 minors were married between 2000 and 2011, according to state health data . . . 90 percent — were girls.

. . .

Delaware’s historic move comes as other states have begun to rethink laws that allow minors to marry. Advocates say that decades-old laws fail to protect vulnerable youths who might be pressured or even forced into unions.

. . .

The bill in Delaware won bipartisan support and passed unanimously in the Senate. However, it faced some opposition in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Steve Smyk, a Republican who voted against the bill, called the measure “well-intentioned, but shortsighted.” Smyk said the blanket ban on marriage before 18 might “unfairly exclude couples with legitimate reasons for seeking such a union.”
. . .

Ken Boulden, a clerk of the peace in Delaware, fought to change the law . . . after he was asked to approve a marriage between a pregnant 14-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man.

“What I was statutorily required to do was — since the mother was there to sign and give the permission — I was supposed to grant them a marriage license and perform the ceremony,” he said . . .