Michigan lawmakers voted today [WED] to send a bill package that would ban child marriage to the governor.
State law currently lets 16-year-olds marry—with parental consent. Parents can marry off younger children with a judge’s signature.
Fraidy [FRADE-ee] Reiss [REES] is the executive director of the group “Unchained at Last.”
She says one reason the practice persists in Michigan is because of how the law is written.
Reiss said that "Once a child is married in Michigan, under Michigan law, they are automatically emancipated. And that terminates the parent’s financial obligation to them. Most likely, it terminates the parent's financial obligation. That is a powerful incentive for a parent who wants to get out of a child support obligation."
Michigan would become the tenth state to ban child marriage without exception if the bills get signed into law.
