In Kentucky a couple under 16, with a pregnant female, may marry with a judge’s permission and $5.00 payment. Ky. Rev. Stat. 402.020(1)(f)(3)
In New York marriage where either party is under the age of 14 is prohibited. N.Y. Dom. Rel. § 15-a
If two Kentucky 14 year olds, expecting a child, elope to New York they will not be able to marry. In NY any person issuing a license for such marriage “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars.”
Surely this is discriminatory, a violation of equal protection, etc.
The Supreme Court said, “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
Why should these 14 year olds be denied the respect of marriage? Why are they denied equal dignity?
Since the Supreme Court has arrogated to themselves the power to legislate, the power to commandeer State legislatures, why haven’t they provided a uniform marriage code for the entire United States? Why are they disrespecting the idea of marriage, “the highest ideals of love and devotion”?