Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs legislation to ban child marriage in Michigan

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 768 points – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs legislation to ban child marriage in Michigan
cbsnews.com

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation to prevent child marriage and protect minors.

The bills raise the minimum age for a person to consent to marriage to 18, according to Whitmer's office.

"Keeping Michiganders safe and healthy is one of my top priorities, and today's bipartisan bills will build on our efforts to protect young people—especially young women—from abuse," said Whitmer. "As a county prosecutor, I went after those who used their power to prey on young people, and as governor, I am proud to sign legislation to strengthen protections for children and survivors into law. Together, we can make Michigan a safe, welcoming state where you can grow up and pursue your potential."

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Now this will disappoint a lot of "religious conservatives"!

They're gonna try to kidnap her again

Lol "We'll just human traffic the people who try to stop us from human trafficking."

Wait a minute child marriage is legal in Michigan?

Surprisingly it's allowed in a lot of states. Unsurprisingly Republicans are fighting laws like this.

Right? It's like people forgot about that one Republican talking about how he knew women who'd gotten married when they were 12 and were happy when defending their state's child marriage laws.

That was so bizarre. He thought he was making a point for child marriage but any sane person would see it as the opposite.

For a long time, (certain) people thought that the best way to deal with a rape victim who got pregnant was to marry her to her rapist. Marriage makes everything ok!

That's literally what the Bible says to do.

Good book, my ass.

Wait a fucking damn one minute! I as gay man im damaging children by wanting them to learn that there are different families and each deserves respect, but marrying a child is legal?

It was, thanks to conservatives. And now it's not, thanks to normal people.

House Bill 4296, sponsored by Rep. Betsy Coffia, D – Traverse City, is a grandfather law that ensures minors who are currently married do not lose their spousal benefits under the new laws.

That’s just weird to read

It's horrible but trying to force-ably separate them at this point would only lead to the minors being hidden from view, deepening the abuse. Additionally, the minors are highly unlikely to actually leave their spouse, no matter how bad their situation is. Adding fuel to the "society doesn't want us together" would only serve to deepen the minor's distrust in everyone but their spouse, making it much harder to help them from any ongoing abuse.

Yeah, not saying it’s bad… just weird

Fantastic news!!! Child marriage laws are state sanctioned Child Rape!!!

I'm not too well versed on Whitmer's political stance, but she keeps pissing a certain kind of people off. She could be some milquetoast lib for all I know but this is clearly a win, amirite? I can't conceive of how any village elders who trot about PROTECT CHILDREN could possibly object to this. Couldn't happen in my America

Yay, but also... it's 2023, why wasn't this already the case?

Now the rednecks will want to kidnap her even more.

Child marriages should be illegal federally with zero tolerance or exceptions.

Christian conservatives be like "Oh no, what transparently thin veil will I use to cover child sex slavery now?"

It wasn't illegal in the first place?!

Lol, it's legal in the vast majority of states.

As of July 2023, ten states have banned underage marriages, with no exception: Delaware (2018),[3] New Jersey (2018),[4] Pennsylvania (2020),[5] Minnesota (2020),[6] Rhode Island (2021),[7] New York (2021),[8] Massachusetts (2022),[9] Vermont (2023),[10] Connecticut (2023)[11] and Michigan (2023).[12]

It's especially super cool when parents marry their underage teenage daughter to her rapist, and then he becomes her legal guardian. I'll let you guess which major political party overwhelmingly supports this.

Not only is it legal in most states, it's actively kept legal. It's not just some old, irrelevant law that only exists because people haven't noticed.

E.g., here's an exchange from Missouri a few years ago where a state senator references an attempt to end child marriage.

https://youtu.be/9H6UJ-uCrgc?si=hihhxIuOJl7N9ror

The article doesn't mention it, are parents allowed to consent that their child be married off before the age of 18?

Remember when the FBI spooked a bunch of yokels to try and kidnap her.