Yesterday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a regulation banning youngster marriage—a prohibition that many residents had been doubtless shocked to be taught wasn’t already on the books. Previous to this regulation, marriage was authorized beginning at age 15. Now, 15 and 16-year-olds can now not get married in Maryland. And at 17, you will get married solely with parental consent and the blessing of a court docket.

A 2021 Capital Gazette story estimates that 80-100 minors are married in Maryland every year, the overwhelming majority of them teen ladies marrying older males. Moreover, the Washington Publish stories that Maryland has not too long ago change into one thing of a vacation spot for youngster marriage, as {couples} from extra restrictive states flocked to Maryland to wed.

Calling Maryland’s legal guidelines “archaic,” a February Publish op-ed cites the story of a Maryland girl, Skyler, who says she was forcibly married in 2009 on the age of 16. In testimony earlier than Maryland lawmakers (recorded in a pamphlet from the Tahirih Justice Heart), Skyler claims that her abusive mom coerced her into marriage, introducing her to a person “twice her age” who would change into her husband only one week later. Skyler says she went to the courthouse in Elkton for her wedding ceremony, the place the clerks apparently requested no questions—the truth is, Skyler remembers a clerk telling her to “wipe them tears” and “cheer up,” as a result of this is able to be “the happiest day of your life.” Truly, Skyler says, “my complete life was stolen” that day. As an alternative of being a traditional teen, she says she was trapped in an abusive and traumatic marriage that proved tough to flee.

The brand new regulation, which might forestall conditions like Skyler’s, had a circuitous journey to Hogan’s desk attributable to controversy amongst legislators and advocacy teams over the invoice’s potential results—each supposed and never. Some opponents had been predictable (the Publish op-ed claims that one Republican State Senator “clutch[ed] his pearls” {that a} pregnant teen would, beneath this invoice, have to offer start out of wedlock), whereas different opponents had been extra shocking. The Baltimore Solar stories {that a} comparable invoice died within the state legislature in 2018 amid opposition from ladies’s teams who apparently feared that elevating the wedding age may open the door to limiting teen reproductive rights and create different unintended penalties for susceptible younger ladies.

The Solar quotes Diana Philip, director of NARAL Professional-Selection Maryland, making the case that some pregnant teenagers “are going to decide on to marry with a purpose to entry sure companies and sure rights,” like medical insurance. As well as, the Solar reported that among the invoice’s opponents feared that stopping teenagers from marrying would possibly entice them in unhealthy conditions: in line with the Solar, teenagers in Maryland can’t legally emancipate themselves from their dad and mom or guardians, so taking away marriage may take away one of many restricted lifelines out there to younger folks fleeing abuse.