Opinion: Why does New Hampshire still allow children to get married?

By LYNN STANLEY

Published: 02-01-2023 6:00 AM

Lynn Stanley, LICSW is the executive director of the National Association of Social Workers, New Hampshire Chapter, and lives in Concord.

Raising the age of marriage to 18 has been introduced to our state legislature again and again. But for some reason, we cannot pass a simple law to protect children.

The age was raised from 13 to 16 but it is inexplicably stuck at 16. This isn’t about maturity, it’s about legal rights and responsibilities that individuals obtain when they turn 18, regardless of their maturity level. If it was about maturity, we wouldn’t allow marriage until the brain is fully developed at 27.

16 and 17-year-olds cannot sign a lease on an apartment or retain an attorney. They cannot sign legal contracts. They cannot seek safety at a domestic violence shelter.

The questions regarding the “what abouts” are often raised. What about a 16-year-old who is pregnant? What about the 17-year-old whose 18-year-old boyfriend is entering the military? If the father of a baby wants to co-parent, he can easily do so outside of marriage by establishing paternity. The baby could even be covered under his insurance. A service member can designate anyone as the beneficiary of their Service Members Group Life Insurance, regardless of marital status.

The question of cultural sensitivity sometimes gets raised. The U.S. State Department has identified child marriage as a human rights abuse. The United Nations agrees child marriage violates the rights of girls and women and “leads to generational cycles of poverty.” Cultural sensitivity does not include allowing human rights abuse.

In the past 20 years, over 300,000 children, mostly girls, were married in the United States. Marriage is a legal contract, and most states, including New Hampshire, do not allow children to enter into legal contracts. Why is marriage different?

We have loopholes that allow parents to give consent. Children are often coerced into these marriages. Older men, often to get out of a statutory rape charge, with promises of money and a “better life” for their daughter, use marriage as a weapon. These girls are then trapped by this marriage, as they have no other adult legal rights.

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Child marriage is a tool used by child traffickers. Taking a child across state lines for nefarious purposes is a federal crime. Taking your wife across state lines is just traveling.

New Hampshire is at great risk of becoming the “destination state” for child traffickers and child marriage. Massachusetts and the New York State Assembly passed their End Child Marriage bills unanimously. The bills were signed into law. Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have also passed these laws. Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut all have bills this legislative session. Protecting children is a bipartisan issue. So why can’t we get this one through our legislature?

There is a multitude of challenges facing our children. They are sometimes overwhelming and systematic. This piece of the puzzle is easy, we simply need to pass HB 34. New Hampshire lawmakers, please protect New Hampshire children by passing HB 34.

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