West Virginia Republicans Block Child Marriage Ban

[RandySF]

A WEST VIRGINIA bill that would have raised the minimum age to secure a marriage license to 18 was blocked by Republicans in the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. As it stands, minors 16 and over may obtain a marriage license with parental consent, and children under the age of 16 must obtain an additional waiver from a judge.

The bill, which would have eliminated those exceptions and established 18 as the universal minimum age for marriage in the state, passed the West Virginia House of Delegates on March 1 in a landslide vote, with widespread support from Republicans.

Kanawha County Republican Sen. Mike Stuart, an opponent of the bill who helped secure it’s 9-8 defeat in committee, justified his vote by stating that his own mother married at 16 and gave birth to him six months later. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Stuart said.

“I want to make it very clear that no one spoke against the bill,” tweeted Kayla Young, the Democratic delegate who sponsored the legislation. “They just made the clearly pre-determined motions and killed the bill. No one admitted why they think children as young as infants should be legally allowed to be married off.



https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/child-marriage-ban-struck-down-west-virginia-republicans-1234693670/

[kysrsoze]

1. Time to call them what they are... child predators.

These are the real groomers.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Posted this yesterday...not a single comment.

I even included their recent bill BANNING drag queens because, y'know, "someone has to think of the children"...unless of course one is wanting to marry them.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

3. A shocking amount of

Priests and pastors are caught abusing kids. A lot of republicans get caught abusing kids. It's not a coincidence.

Always has been the grand old pervert party.

[CousinIT]

4. There are your rapists and groomers. The 'right' to rape the youngest girls possible

...is a male privilege they won't easily let go of.

[tornado34jh]

5. Serious question, Aren't these the same people who are calling Democrats pedophiles?

Perhaps they should look in the mirror, because that is definitely hypocritical. Look, while we're at it, why don't we ask the bigger question? We criticize a lot of countries for their child marriages and stuff, and particularly in the Middle East and southern Asia, it's very common. Yet here in the United States, some states want child marriage? We might as well have it just like in those areas I mentioned. Heck, we make children pageants for crying out loud, and a lot of them probably have no idea how to handle it.

[ShazzieB]

6. They just want to be sure that pregnant teenage girls are able to marry their baby's father.

Because if they don't, they might get an abortion, and omgwtf we CAN'T have that!

Ugh...my younger sister got pregnant at 16, married the baby's father, had the baby at 17, and had to divorce the asshole a couple of years after that. She had 3 more kids with the 2nd asshole she married. (What can I say, Lil Sis really knew how to pick 'em. )

Asshole #1 ended up being a mostly absentee father (lots of substance abuse issues there), but my niece somehow managed to grow up to be an amazing woman. I'm grateful for that, but I still think underage teens getting married is a very bad idea.

The forced birthers love it, though. To them, ANYTHING is better than abortion. And hey, the younger they are when you get them knocked up and marry them, the easier it is to keep them barefoot and pregnant after that. WV would probably lower the age for marriage even more if they could get away with it.