They are also joined by Idaho and other rural states in the West. Today southern states like Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia have among the highest rates of minor marriage in the nation. Nothing in the law would have prevented the two from marrying if they’d had her parents’ permission. Leigh Corfman claims Moore initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 in 1979. This may be one reason – aside from liking his conservative politics – that voters in Alabama seem less disturbed by Roy Moore’s targeting of teenage girls.
Census show that the marriage of legal minors has always been more common in the South. In the last 15 years, more than 207,000 minors have become legally wed in the United States, many marrying below the age of consent to sex in their states.ĭata from the U.S. While marriage as a minor is significantly less common today than it was in the early or mid-20th century – two periods with particularly high rates – it is certainly not a thing of the past. Different minimum marriageable ages for girls and boys were common nationwide until the 1970s. The minimum marriageable age in Alabama today is 16, though for most of the state’s history girls could marry at 14 and boys at 17. This has been the pattern throughout U.S. Though some boys do marry, the vast majority of marrying minors are girls. While activists have long urged legislators to raise the age of consent to marriage – and continue to do so – with parental consent it remains possible for minors to marry in every single state. The reality is that these practices are still around, as I learned in researching my recent book, “ American Child Bride: A History of Minors and Marriage in the United States.” Minors and marriageĬhild marriage has a long and vibrant history in the United States. These conversations about older men dating and marrying young girls have left many Americans surprised. However, Moore is married to a woman 14 years his junior whom he first met when she was 15 and he was 29. It seems unlikely that Moore was ever interested in marrying any of the women who have thus far accused him of unwanted sexual attention and assault. He promised that his daughter would be “raped”.Įarly marriages are still practiced in Iraq, especially in conservative or rural settings.The recent outrage over Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore allegedly targeting teenage girls for sex has elicited reports that some evangelical churches actually encourage teenage girls to date older men. The mother, who refuses to give her name, has no connection with her daughter Isra and accuses her ex-husband of abducting her. The NGO calls for the repeal of Section 398 of the Criminal Code, which “allows sex workers to escape punishment if they marry a victim”. “A 12-year-old girl is not of legal age to make such decisions that will determine her future,” criticizes the Organization for Women’s Liberation in Iraq (OWFI), which sometimes condemns the conduct of religious organizations. Prior to the trial, a dozen activists from the Iraqi Feminist NGO demonstrated in front of the court, waving placards reading “Do not marry children” or “Marrying children is a crime against children.” Victim of “rape” “Religious marriages are not allowed outside a certain framework” but this type of union is ongoing and can be regularized by paying fines, the NGO explained in a recent report.
Legally, the age of marriage in Iraq is 18, but the exceptions are at age 15 with parental or judicial consent, says the voluntary charity Save the Children.
#ALABAMA MARRIAGE 12 YEARS OLD JUDICIAL CONSENT TRIAL#
The trial was adjourned to November 28 e Obedi. The lawyer for Marwan Obedi, the mother of a 12-year-old girl, told a court near Baghdad that she could not “get married because of her young age”.