State lawmakers in North Carolina are coming close to passing a bill that will dampen the state's appeal as the go-to place to bring child brides. The bill wouldn't raise the age to 18 like many are calling for nationally, but instead, it would raise it to 16.
Listen to your favorite News/Talk station now on Audacy.
North Carolina for years has been known as the regional destination for adults who want to marry children. For years the minimum age for marriage in the state has been 14.
"We will have moved the needle and made North Carolina no longer at the very bottom of the barrel of states," Drew Reisinger, the register of deeds in Buncombe County, said to NPR.
Related
However, he added that "we're still going to be putting a lot of children in harm's way."
Reisinger said that Buncombe County, which contains the tourist city of Asheville, is a popular destination for adults and child brides from Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee, where the minimum age has been increased in recent years.
Of the marriage applications submitted in Buncombe County last year, two-thirds involved out-of-state couples with at least one person under 18, Reisinger said, NPR reported. He shared that recently a 49-year-old man and 17-year-old girl recently came from Kentucky to get a license.
"North Carolina is one of the friendliest states in the South to give them safe haven," he remarked.
Currently, there are 13 states where marriage under the age of 16 is legal, NPR reported.
Related
To get married in North Carolina at the age of 14, the child would need to be pregnant and get a judge to allow it. Children aged 16 would only need a parent's permission to get married in the state. Alaska is the only other state where marriage can be permitted as young as 14.
A study done by the International Center for Research on Women estimated that nearly 8,800 minors were listed on Marriage licenses in North Carolina over a 15-year span from 2000-2015. The study also found that 93% of marriage applications it reviewed from 2000-2019 involved a minor and an adult.
"It disrupts the notion that if child marriage happens, it is the Romeo-and-Juliet scenario of two 17-year-olds who just can't wait to love each other," said Lyric Thompson, one of the study's co-authors, NPR reported.
While many are ready for the change in the state, it has been slow as some lawmakers remain convinced that certain marriages involving a child are still acceptable.
"It's a generational divide," said Sen. Vickie Sawyer, a Davidson County Republican. "It was older members — both Democrat and Republicans — that had those personal stories of family members who had been married, and it turned out OK."
Related
Sawyer was responsible for sponsoring a bill to raise the age to 18, but instead, the two sides compromised on the bill that won unanimous support from the Senate in May, and the House this week would raise the marriage to 16 with no exceptions.
Those aged 16 and 17 still need parental permission or a judge to allow it because it will "serve the best interest of an underage party."
The groups sponsoring the bill have enlisted the help of former child brides like Judy Wiegand of Kentucky. Wiegand appeared before a North Carolina House committee in June to share her support for the law.
"It is the responsibility of the government to protect all of the children," said Wiegand, who was 13 when she and an older teenager got married in the 1970s. The boy was the father of her child, but she said that until she was an adult, the law left her unprotected from an abusive partner.
The legislation will require one more Senate vote before heading to Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's desk, where it is expected to be signed into law.