This is terrifying to think about.
Most of us have memories of being 12 or 13 and not having a notion of how life goes, or the burdens of work, education or responsibilities.
In some parts of the US and the world, many young teenagers face the terrifying situation of forced marriage to a man much more older than them, with no say or right to refuse the arrangement.
In the state of Virginia in the US, it was legal for men to marry underage girls. However that law has now been changed.
Today, @GovernorVA signed HB 703 limiting child marriage & providing more protections for teens who marry. pic.twitter.com/54iR2YJDoD
— Jennifer McClellan (@JennMcClellanVA) June 20, 2016
According to The Washington Post, a new law has been put into place banning the forced marriages of girls under the age of 18.
Before last Friday, men were able to marry girls as young as 12 and 13 with parental consent or if the child was pregnant.
From data collected from the state’s Department of Health, between 2004 and 2013, up to 4,500 girls under the age of 18 were married.
The bill – which will save thousands of girls from situations such as human trafficking and statutory rape – was passed by politicians Jill Holtzman Vogel and Jennifer McClellan.
Vogel said she became aware of the disturbing issue after witnessing a case in her Northern Virginia area where one middle-aged man was accused of having sex with a teenage girl.
As rumours began to spread and many locals suspected the man of paedophilia, he wooed the parents of the child and married the young girl, thereby dodging any chance of being prosecuted.
“Now they’re married, and there’s no crime,” said Holtzman Vogel. “She dropped out of high school. Her life is ruined.”
Virginia follows many other states in banning child marriages, such as New York, Maryland, California and New Jersey.
