PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - The state House has approved a law to ban child marriages in Pennsylvania.
Representatives voted 195 to nothing Wednesday.
Current state law allows people under 18 to marry if custodial parents or guardians agree, and under age 16 if a judge decides it's in the child's best interests.
The bill's supporters say underage marriages are often coerced and linked to domestic violence.
The sponsor of the bill Republican Jesse Topper says remarkably Pennsylvania is one of 27 states that do not set a minimum age for marriage.
"An estimated 248,000 children were married in the U.S. between the years 2000 and 2010," said Topper. "Almost 77 percent of these marriages were young girls married to adult men."
Topper says married minors don't have the same rights as adults when it comes to terminating their marriages, leading to abuse.
The bill making 18 the minimum age to obtain a marriage license with no exceptions passed the House without a single no vote and will now go to the Senate for consideration.
___Follow KDKA Radio: Facebook | Twitter | InstagramListen to KDKA Radio on the Radio.com App - Download Now
