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This morning I drove to Raleigh to testify before the Senate Judiciary committee at the #NCGA to ask them to raise the age of marriage to 18.
We have spent years collecting data and building up a broad collation of support from both sides of the aisle.
We have spent years collecting data and building up a broad collation of support from both sides of the aisle.
I was there to representing the North Carolina Association of Register of Deeds, a bipartisan group (which is generally pretty conservative), to show lawmakers statewide data and say it’s time to end Child Marriage.
The chairman rushed the vote only allowing two 2 minute speeches. The primary bill sponsors had to gut the bill entirely solely to appease the one powerful man who’s holding this up: @SenatorBerger.
Our team presented a compromise bill to Berger which would only raise the marriage age to 16 years old, but 16 and 17-year-olds must be emancipated through the court, have a 15 day waiting period, NC residency requirement.
@SenatorBerger said no. BERGER MADE IT CLEAR, HE WANTS 14 YEAR OLDS TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO MARRY.
We have a deeply broken system when the vast majority of North Carolina lawmakers support a bipartisan bill, but one man has the constitutional power to shut all that down because he thinks 14 year olds should still be allowed to marry. Gross!
Meanwhile, across the state line in South Carolina a Senate Judiciary committee voted to raise the age of marriage to 18. North Carolina is truly the outlier in the south. And it’s only getting worse as other states vote to protect their minors.
