Missouri legislature votes to ban child marriage, raising age to 18

Wow, MISSOURI did that???

MISSOURI??!??

Republican men are probably throwing a fit that they won’t be able to legally groom and rape children for “family values” anymore

Abolish Marriage.

We don’t need the state or religious authorities dictating our relationships.

Rep. Hardy Billington, R-Poplar Bluff, was among the few who spoke against the bill, arguing that barring pregnant teenagers from getting married would increase abortion rates.

“We all claim to be pro-life here in the body,” Billington said. “Now we’re going to vote on this bill where babies are going to die.”

Disgusting. What a pitiful excuse to enable the trafficking of children. I'm ashamed to live here. There's no fucking guarantee that it would even increase abortion rate, this guy is a closeted pedophile looking out for his ilk.

Apparently he's been spouting this bullshit for at least the past year. Not to mention he's also a homophobe.

And if it fails, you know whoever voted for it to not pass is a child predator. Hopefully there's a list of people who voted "no" on it that gets leaked so people, especially parents, know who to cut contact with.

Bet Republicans are furious

This is a new article from 1800, right? right?

During debate Tuesday on a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, Missouri State Senator Mike Moon suggested children as young as 12 should have the right to marry with parental permission.

"Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They're still married," Moon said in response to questioning by Democratic state Representative Peter Merideth.

Child brides aren’t old enough to divorce their husbands.

According to divorce lawyer Nancy Zalusky Berg, the answer to that is no, not directly. A minor can’t file for a divorce because they’re not considered old enough to do it. That’s because marriage is considered a contract, and most laws stipulate that only adults can enter into contracts. So, if a minor wants to change their marriage contract, they need an adult to help them do it. “Our laws around marriage operate under the presumption that everyone’s an adult,” Berg explains to Teen Vogue. That’s a conflict when you consider that, between 2000 and 2015, there were at least 207,468 child marriages that occurred in 44 states, according to figures from PBS's Frontline.

"in a move that infuriates conservatives..."

The year is 2025.......

And America is still this ass backwards.

Least some good news for once.

Well, glad I married off my daughter at 14 last year. Knew that was a good decision

This was allowed before?!

The next time someone makes fun of shithole countries remind them that hundreds of 12yo are married in the US every year. And I guess their little bodies are ready for motherhood because many of them produce a baby in 4 or 6 mo after the wedding.

Checked if this was an Onion type article. So glad it isn't.

You mean they hadn't already?!

for anyone surprised at this, I learned from an Ask Lemmy thread that the age of sexual consent in well over half of the USA is 16 years old, in something like 30 states.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_the_United_States

up until that point I figured it was 18 across the US.

I was real wrong.

Finally. The bare fucking minimum.

I mean... this is reason to celebrate, but at the same time it's like saying you're giving up on blinding orphan puppies. You were doing what?

"uplifting" news

About fucking time you backasswards rednecks

What century is this again?

Two questions:

1. What was the age before?

2. What's the lowest age permitted in all the States?

Studying the Child marriage in the United States Wikipedia page. Looking at the map legenda that says 'red = 0', thinking 'surely that means it's forbidden, right? right??' What the fuck.

Still allowed in a lot of US states

Old men in Missouri just want to trade their gently (ab)used old wives in for a new model.

What’s the big deal ? Women are property right? Just there to have babies and make sandwiches, right?

Fuck Nazis. Fuck Christianity. Some creepy bible rapist comes for my kids they better be absolutely ready to “meet Jesus”

Trump will probably put in an EO banning age restrictions on marriage and the right will cheer.

It's wild to me how much debate there was over this here in our General Assembly, but I'm glad it came out correctly.

Now if only they'd stop trying to gut the other things we voted for last year: $15 minimum wages, required paid sick leave, and abortion rights.

Maine also just did the same thing.

Um, that's great and everything, but it's still too young. Your brain doesn't finish developing until you're 25, and the brain is the part of the body you're concerned about when you're making laws about when somebody should be able to make a big decision like getting married.

aw... <sad banjo music>

uhhhh why wasnt this done in the 1800s???

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_age_in_the_United_States

https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/06/child-marriage-california/

Just gotta say, fuck the ACLU for both getting hate speech declared free speech and opposing a man on child marriage.

TL;DR, a region of America became saner.

Now raise it to 21.

Missouri of all places!

Trump will absolutely flip over this. Hell, the entire Republican party will go on strike.

Oh no, won't someone thing of the children.

/s

What? Was that not the norm?

meanwhile in Florida...

What? No wonder the Missouri Oblast is fucked up.

Inb4 reference frame based age adjustments become the next red ticket item.

They mean 21 right?