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North Carolina Lawmakers Vote To Raise Minimum Age For Marriage From 14 To 16

<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">TSR Politics&colon; North Carolina is trying to move away from the reputation of the state where adults can legally marry kids&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">North Carolina lawmakers unanimously voted Tuesday to raise the legal age of marriage in the state from 14 to 16&comma; a move that takes the state a step further in restricting child marriage but stopping short of outlawing it&comma; the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wsj&period;com&sol;articles&sol;north-carolina-lawmakers-vote-to-raise-legal-age-of-marriage-to-16-11629239030">Wall Street Journal<&sol;a> reports&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">The bill&comma; which was passed by the state Senate Tuesday and the House last week&comma; bans children under the age of 16 from tying the knot and requires an age gap of four years or less between a minor &lpar;under the age of 18&rpar; and the person they marry&period; So for example&comma; a 16-year-old cannot legally marry anyone older than 20&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">The bill now goes to North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper to sign&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;While the legislation falls short of raising the age of marriage to 18&comma; the governor supports this step toward ending child marriage in North Carolina and more protections for children&comma;” said Mary Scott Winstead&comma; a spokesperson for the governor&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">The bill initially asked for more&period; The first draft of the bill prohibited anyone under age 18 from marrying&comma; but it was later amended in a Senate committee after some lobbyist groups argued banning minors from getting married might lead more teenagers to get an abortion if they are pregnant and unable to get married&comma; said state Sen&period; Danny Earl Britt&comma; Jr&period;&comma; a Republican and co-sponsor of the bill&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Lawmakers who supported the bill wanted to avoid any roadblocks that would kill the legislation&comma; he added<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I hope we can get it to go further in the future&comma;” Britt said in an interview before the law was passed Tuesday&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">North Carolina may have had one of the youngest age requirements for marriage but it is not the only state that allows minors to get married&period; Age requirements for marriage vary across the country&comma; though many states do require a person to be at least 18 to marry&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Alaska is the only other state that allows children as young as 14 to get married&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 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Christina Calloway

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