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As California considers a ban on child marriage, opponents have come out to defend the practice—including liberal organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Planned Parenthood Takes Up Arms Against Ban on Child Marriage

California, a state controlled by Democrats if there ever was one, was set to pass the first full ban on child marriage in the country before beloved liberal institutions spoke out against the proposed legislation.

Only two states in the country, California and Mississippi, have no minimum age requirement for marriage. Most states that still allow the practice of child marriage set the minimum age at 16, with others ranging from 14 to 18. In California, anyone under 18 who wishes to be wed must have parental or guardian approval along with a court order. However, advocates for the child marriage ban point out that in California, statutory rape claims cannot be brought to justice if the victim is married to the perpetrator.

Opponents of the child marriage ban, which also includes the Child Law Center, as well as Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, have pushed back against the proposed law for fear it will affect the age of consent for issues such as abortion and gender transition. On the talk show “Washington Watch,” former Georgia Representative Jody Hice said he thought he was reading something from satirical Conservative website “The Babylon Bee” when he heard that leftist organizations were pushing back on the child marriage ban.

While we often think of child marriage as an issue that only happens in other countries, more than 300,000 children (primarily girls) under age 18 were married in the United States between the years 2000-2018. Texas currently has the most child marriages on the books, with California in second place. I guess that partly explains why there are over 1 million teen pregnancies a year.

What do you think? Ban it or support it, and why?