In much of the United States, people can get married at the age of 16 if they have parental permission. However, in 13 states, even younger people can get married under some conditions. In North Carolina, children as young as 14 used to be able to get married if they were pregnant and had a judge’s permission. As a result, the state was a known place to go if you were an adult who wanted to marry a child. But North Carolina lawmakers recently passed a bill that changes the legal marriage age from 14 to 16. The law now goes to the state’s Governor, Roy Cooper, for final approval and he is expected to sign it. The new law also limits the permissible age difference between a 16-year-old and their marriage partner to four years. This year, state lawmakers listened to the stories of several former child brides. One of them, Judy Wiegand of Kentucky, appeared before a North Carolina House committee in June to support the reform. “It is the responsibility of the government to protect all of the children,” Wiegand told lawmakers. Wiegand was 13 when she and an older teenage boy the father of her baby married in the 1970s. She said that until she became an adult, the law left her largely unprotected against an abusive husband. Jean Fields is 72 years old. She got married at the age of 15 to a man in his 20s. Fields had three children by the time she was 21. She later separated from her husband who, she said, had abused her psychologically for years. Groups working to persuade lawmakers to change the marriage age in North Carolina say there are more women with similar stories. Those women, however, are uncomfortable talking in public about their experiences.
