N.Y. lawmakers push to raise the age for marriage to 17 [View all]
Albany -- Children in New York state can be married as young as 14, and a troubling number — almost all them girls — are married off at that young age by their families, according to advocates backing a bill that would raise the state's minimum marriage age to 17.
If they weren't married, the spouses of these child brides would be in violation of statutory rape laws, said Westchester Democratic Assemblywoman Amy Paulin is sponsoring the bill along with Staten Island Republican Sen. Andrew Lanza.
Human rights organizations describe the practice as a violation when it goes on in other countries.
The trouble is, "It happens right here in our very own backyard," said Paulin, who was joined Monday by some women who had been or nearly were married off by their families as teenagers.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/N-Y-lawmakers-push-to-raise-the-age-for-marriage-10932218.php
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