Politicians in the state of Kentucky who are fighting to put an end to the child marriage have had a potential bill postponed due to opposition from conservatives who still support underage marriage.
Under current laws, a 16 to 17-year-old can be legally married so long as they have the consent of their parent(s) in certain states, including Kentucky.
Additionally, any child under the age of 16 can get married if they are pregnant, as long as they’re marrying the father of the child.
The new bill would stop anyone aged 16 or under from getting married and prevent 17-year-olds from getting hitched without the approval of a judge. The judge in question would need to be shown evidence the teenager in question is mature enough, self-reliant and has not been unwillingly persuaded into wedlock.
The bill would also prevent a 17-year-old from marrying someone who is more than four years their senior. According to The Independent, more than 200,000 children under the age of 18 in America have been married between the year 2000 and 2015.
During that period there were 10,618 marriages in Kentucky, 279 of which took place in 2015. In some cases, children as young as 10-years-old have been married, while in most cases the minor is female and her spouse an older man.