A full ban on child marriage on Wednesday cleared the Michigan House. The legislation could make Michigan the 10th state to ban the practice that critics call a human rights abuse.
Currently, Michigan is one of seven states that have no legal minimum age for marriage and of the over 5,400 child marriages that occurred in Michigan between 2000 and 2001, according to Unchained at Last, a national nonprofit advocating for an end to child marriage, with 95% of them were marriages between girls and older men.
It is hard to believe child marriage still exists in Michigan, Rep. Kara Hope (D-Holt), who the sponsor of the main bill said on the House floor before votes on the package.
“Often, parents force their kids into marriage because they become pregnant or because they want to be free from their own obligations as parents and in some nightmare scenarios, children become pregnant [with a child rapist’s child] and their own parents make them marry,” Hope said.
