Kansas Lawmakers Set Minimum Marriage Age

[TechBear_Seattle]

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas may have seen the last of its child brides. After a pregnant 14-year-old from Nebraska drove to Kansas last year to marry her 22-year-old boyfriend, now serving time for having sex with the minor, Kansas lawmakers decided it was time the set a minimum marriage age.

On Thursday, the Kansas House voted 119-0 to approve a bill that would prohibit anyone under the age of 15 from marrying in Kansas and would set strict limits for would-be brides or grooms under the age of 18. The Senate approved it a day earlier, 36-4.

Under the legislation, requested by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a 15-year-old could marry only if a district court judge decided it was in that person's best interest.

Those who are 16 or 17 could marry if they met one of three conditions: permission from a parent or legal guardian and judicial consent; permission from both parents and any legal guardian; or permission from judge if the parents are dead and there is no legal guardian.

Currently, Kansas has no minimum age for marriage if the minor has parental or judicial approval.

The complete article can be read at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060505/ap_on_re_us/marriage_age

I believe that, even if this law passes, it will still be the youngest marrying age in the United States.

[Journeyman]

1. I wonder what the rationale of the 4 Senators who voted against this was?

n/t

[Kutjara]

2. But it remains the case in Kansas that if you divorce your wife...

...she's still your sister, right?

[Bushy Being Born]

11. Is that supposed to be funny?

Idiot.

[foreigncorrespondent]

3. Oh how nice!

15 year olds marrying, but ADULT queers still can't!

[truthisfreedom]

4. that's because they're preserving the purity of marriage of child brides!

don't you get it? it's so simple.

[SoCalDem]

5. In this day and age, the minimum age should be 18

I see NO reason at all for teenagers to be getting married. Pregnancy is no longer the social stigma it used to be, and forcing (encouraging) teens to marry is only asking for more divorces and spousal abuse..

It's damned difficult for twenty-somethings to survive financially these days, so why on earth would it be EASIER or even As easy for a couple of non-high school grads of 15-17 to be married.?

Let's just call it what it is.. a lazy excuse for parents who know their kids are sexually active, but want the "community" to say it's ok because they are "married"..

[slackmaster]

6. I say it should be 30

:nuke:

[Kailassa]

7. No way, that would be ridiculous.

Any 50 year old can tell you that humans don't mature until after they've lived a half-century.
Besides, child-rearing puts a terrible strain on a marriage, so it's much better to wait till all that is over and done with.

[Triana]

8. Heh.

50 is good...I agree it ought to be 50.

[slackmaster]

12. I defer to the wisdom and perspective of my elder

I'm only 48, so I couldn't possibly understand anything about life. ;-)

Besides, child-rearing puts a terrible strain on a marriage, so it's much better to wait till all that is over and done with.

If you survive that, you can handle anything.

[jerry611]

9. You are blaming high divorce rates on teens?

Canada's age of consent is set at age 14. So are a few nations in Europe. They don't have even close to the problems that we do with teenagers.

It's a social problem.

[SoCalDem]

10. I said "more" not "ALL".. or "ONLY"

A couple of teenagers surely would have a great deal of difficulty and not much life experience at handling the problems that lead to divorce :hi:

[Toots]

13. Isn't marriage a legal binding contract?

I was under the impression that a minor could not be a part of a legal contract unless an adult was a part.:shrug:

[Yavin4]

14. Is This The Same Kansas That Passed Creationism = Science Before...

they passed disallowing children to marry adults?!?!?!

This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to live in Europe.

[American Tragedy]

15. Honestly, why the hell should anybody under the age of eighteen marry?

You know, I certainly have no problem with some careful sexual experimentation, if done safely and responsibly, but I've never met a teenager who was really ideally prepared to enter a lifelong, legally binding relationship with another person. I was a teen just a few years ago, and I know how drastically I have changed already. If I had married the guy with whom I was in love then, I would absolutely be divorced right now, and probably worse off for it.

Even if you are indeed in love and emotionally committed, I don't see how it could be anything but beneficial to wait. People should be more cautious.