Virginia raises the age for marriage to 18 from previous 13

Virginia State Capital Building
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– News from elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry

Virginia raises the age for marriage to 18 from previous 13.

Sometimes even Quincy Quarry has to simply cover the news.

In this instance, the news is that the Commonwealth of Virginia has ended the allowance of a pregnant 13 year old to marry given parental “permission.”

It is a new era in the Old Dominion.

Further note that Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature overwhelmingly for the most part voted in favor of this change in state law.

This new law took effect last Friday and it sets the minimum marriage age at 18, or at age 16 if a child is emancipated by court order.  

As such, parents and pregnancy now are no longer factors when it comes to teenagers marrying in Virginia.

While some may argue that this new law will increase the number of pregnancies terminated, proponents view it as curbing forced marriage, human trafficking and statutory rape disguised as marriage.

To find out more about this new law, read the Washington Post’s coverage here.

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