Alabama, other Southern states, re-examine laws allowing child brides

Athens Banner-Herald ^ | Sunday, May 20, 2001 | Dave Bryan

[Brown Deer]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The bride was 14, the groom a little older, at 17. When Richard Baker encountered the couple two years later, it was to work up the papers for their divorce.

''They were young,'' recalled the Birmingham attorney. ''They had problems in the marriage and she didn't come across as being the most mature person. ... She wasn't ready to be married.''

Before he had completed the divorce papers, he got a call from the girl's father. There would be no divorce. The wife, at 16, had died of a drug overdose.

Baker said that case comes to mind first when he thinks about a state law that allows children as young as 14 to marry in Alabama. A bill in the state Legislature that called for raising the minimum age to 16 -- as it is in most other Southern states -- died Thursday night after a filibuster shut down the Senate.

The Alabama law allowing 14-year-olds to marry was enacted in 1852, when the state was largely agrarian and people generally began having children at an earlier age.

But in 2001, a law allowing young people barely into their teens to marry is just plain outdated, said Rep. John Hilliard, D-Birmingham, who sponsored the bill.

''That is too young. Times have changed,'' said Hilliard.

The measure was inspired by news reports that teens under age 16 were brought by adults from Georgia to Alabama for the sole purpose of being married.

Hilliard said he followed stories about the Atlanta-based House of Prayer, which advocates marriage for female church members as young as 14 and has encouraged transporting girls over state lines to marry in Alabama.

Marjorie Baker, who oversees counseling for victims of family violence in Montgomery, said teen-age spouses are often vulnerable and can be emotionally immature.

She said that in her 16 years at the Family Sunshine Center she has seen many cases in which young girls married men an average of 10 years older who were abusive and controlling.

Typically, Baker said, the marriage takes place because the girl is in need of approval from an older man. But the young wife often is not even permitted to have friendships with schoolmates.

''The dynamics are similar ... she is very isolated from family members and of course her social life is very limited -- to none,'' Baker said. ''Also, the female victims don't have the opportunity to advance in their education because they are being encouraged to finish high school and become a housewife.''

Hilliard said he wanted to change the law in part because Florida, Georgia and Tennessee -- states that border Alabama -- have set 16 as the minimum age a person can marry, with the consent of a parent or guardian.

The minimum marrying age is 16 in other Southern states as well, except in Mississippi, which has no minimum age with the consent of a parent or judge, and Arkansas, where the minimum age is 14, according to The Council of State Governments.

North Carolina is considering a law this month that would set 14 as the minimum age, with teens aged 14 and 15 requiring the permission of a circuit judge. Most Southern states allow a female under the age of 16 to marry if she's pregnant.

According to Alabama statistics, 63 brides in 1999 were 14-years-old, compared to 100 in 1995. No boys age 14 were married in 1999, though one 14-year-old boy was married in 1995.

The numbers of teens marrying in Alabama increases starting at the age of 15, with 186 brides in 1999, compared to 232 in 1995. There were six 15-year-old boys married in 1999, compared to eight in 1995.

Statistics from the state Department of Health don't indicate whether the couples are Alabama residents.

Calhoun County Probate Judge Arthur Murray, on the bench more than 25 years, said it's not his official role to make a judgment about marriage at such a young age.

But personally, Murray said his experience is that most teen-age marriages don't last long. There were 44 teens married in Calhoun County in 1999.

''They are not mature enough to make a real lasting decision of that nature,'' Murray said.

[chaosagent]

Don’t slow down. We’re catching up to you.

[Bellflower]

If people were married sooner than they are today there wouldn't be all of the sexual promiscuity with broken hearts, diseases, abortion and children born out of wedlock, as well as many other problems. People now days are often too selfish to get married and raise children at a young age. Also, our population is not being replaced at a healthy pace.

[5th MEB]

CONGRATULATIONS, my wife and I just have a few more years to go until the big 50.
(what should I get her)?

[Kickass Conservative]

What age can Girls get Abortions without their Parents being told in Blue States, 12? Just askin’...

[xrmusn]

What age can Girls get Abortions without their Parents being told in Blue States, 12? Just askin’...
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
I have noticed on gas pumps at Sheetz in Virginia, that it says under 16 can’t pump gas.

My comment is

What kind of society are we in that a 16 yo boy can’t put gas in his mothers car but a 14 yo girl can get an abortion without her parents consent?????

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks so much for your support to this point... I personally apprecaite it...
FReepers, it's far beyond time to wrap up this FReep-a-thon.  Lets do it today.  Please chip in.

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...this is a general all-purpose message, and should not be seen as targeting any individual I am responding to...

[chaosagent]

Well, I got my wife a Viking River Cruise between Nuremberg, Germany and Budapest, Hungary, with a side trip to Versailles.

We’re scheduled for next fall.

[dfwgator]

Sweet. Sounds like a great trip.

[wardaddy]

Freepers don’t like facts Mark

They don’t want to know that plenty of states average first marriage age is actually lower than Alabama

We oversex our girls then pretend they are children till 30

I have older girls an teen boys ..11-16...17

I asked my 15 year old ninth grader in public 97 percent white school what percentage of attractive girls send nude selfies on Snapchat

He said 75 percent

What’ percentage are virgins at 15......maybe 25 percent tops

And most will give a complete icing on top blowjob or hand finish and not consider it sex to a boy they hook up with from social media at a party etc

In his words most teen girls today are sluts and worse than the boys vying to outdo each other sexually

And that 3 percent of blacks get a lot of action cause the white girls suffer from jungle fever and a zeal to make up for past white privilege
They feel morally obligated to have at least one black sex partner and won’t say no for fear of being called racist
Plus average black boy has nothing holding him back at home...morals wise

It’s a frigging sick mess

I’m in arguably the richest cost of living adjusted county in the USA

Williamson County TN south of Nashville

Median income over 100k and median home prices 450k

But you get a lot of that....California and New York are invading us

Michigan already has

I hear. A southern accent i notice it

And people on this forum worrying about legal marriage age

It’s irrelevant....we should worry about how to get our womenfolk and their panties back in reasonable sexual behavior for girls

And southern baptist and church of Christ and catholic and Pentecostal girls are just as loose

Makes litttle difference they are just more discreet

Where did they learn this....theirnmoms.?

This is social media too

My daughters are 28/29...this was coming on withi suicide girls and miss mayhem when they were 17/18

We saw emails they’d get wanting them to come in and pose

Wicked man wicked

My daughters were 16/19 respectively so they told me and I had open relationship with them more than my wife did oddly enough

The world was better when a decent country Christian girl did marry. Like minded boy at 16!-20’thsn now I can promise you

[Yaelle]

(I didn’t realize you are near Nashville there. It’s the place I am keeping my eye on for relocation one day. We visited and hit up a real estate agent. There’s a special ed school I toured and loved for my boy too. For some reason I thought you were in Louisiana.?!)

That is really disgusting re the girls. I thought we were bad in my day but we didn’t have selfies or internet. I am kinda hoping your son is exaggerating.

[William Tell]

Here's some data from the article:

Alabama brides

year        age 14       age 15

1995          100         232
1999           63         186

The population of Alabama today is about 4.8 million. The issue of young brides in Alabama would appear to be a problem that is small and getting smaller quite rapidly. Perhaps it doesn't take a village to decide what is best for the young women of Alabama.

[wardaddy]

My wife who knows how girls are being one once in the late 70s and early 80s

She was Zep and AC/DC youth cum Cure Petty REM.Furs Depeche Mode cool chick graduated High school in 83

Me in 75 which was a diff era

She has investigated it and it’s true

I’m naive....to be honest

My oldest boy sees it too and doesn’t like it but rolls with it

My 15 year old is perturbed by it

He’s very handsome and football star for his age so he gets hot admirers

Relatively speaking given their young ages

He is extremely selective and for now prefers his buds

Girls are drama he says...I can’t argue that...it is high school after all

It sad....girls should bale that which they have from God that boys so covet

I was one to never judge promiscuous girls women up to a point....I mean I loved sex too so why should I blame girls who found early on hey they can roll off the Os so why not enjoy it with at least some discretion though it seemed many loose girls were seeking male approval more than Os

Call me immoral but I confess I preferred an experienced woman who was comfortable and adventurous and no rules but fidelity and had a very high daily drive like mine over a vestal virgin who was hemmed up with guilt and hesitation and worse....shameful

All within reason....

But thats just me...I’ve been scolded here for that...ex wife a playmate etc ..annette a musc video model made us tawdry to many

I like a full blooded chill about intimacy female partner

Hence I have five children.....

[momincombatboots]

And that made sense when girls fertility age was 14. Now it is about 12, some as young as 9. How do you square that with living longer.. Forced abortions, like the Chinese? Forced sterility?
They aren’t immature solely due to their days on earth, so who gets to decide? A circuit judge? How do they assess that?
Marriage is between 2 people and God. We shouldn’t be arbitrating that relationship,
However, sharia child brides, makes me want to rethink the entire thing. Like the church in Atlanta, taking girls across state lines..
great dialogue we have here.

[trebb]

These days, anyone who ever did some necking is a “sexual predator”....

[NorthMountain]

Sure and the thousands of underage minority kids not even bothering to be married having kids is just a cultural norm

In the demonicRAT created urban welfare state, it absolutely is the "norm". It's how the demonicRATs breed slaves voters.

[Joachim]

Not just a “south” thing:

https://nypost.com/2017/06/08/new-york-marriage-age-set-to-be-raised-to-17/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“In fact, in the past 150 years, the average lifespan in the United States has risen from 35-40 years to nearly 80 years thanks mostly to advances in medicine. Forty used to be the new 20, but before long, 60 might be the new 20 instead [source: Helmuth].”

https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/did-people-in-past-really-only-live-to-be-30.htm

It only took the world 150 years of civilization to raise our lifespan from 35 to 80. We are swimmin’ in old folks these days - it’s taken me forever to get a spot in Assisted Living for my Dad who will be 81 next month...

...and will live to be 110 just to spite me, LOL!

[Yaelle]

Just found this post to me now, and I understand the kind of woman you liked / married and I hope to one day find a man who appreciates it too since I’m the same way, I got unlucky with my ex. Still even with my past I still am not happy about promiscuity among the young girls. I have a little daughter. Besides all the other risks, it really is a waste of energy and time at that age.