Bill would set a minimum marrying age in Pennsylvania. And no, we don't already have one.
How old do you have to be to get married in Pennsylvania? Twenty-one? Sixteen? Fourteen?
Actually there is no minimum age. But legislation that won unanimous approval by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday seeks to change that by setting 18 as the minimum age to marry in the commonwealth.
House Bill 360, sponsored by Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford County, now moves to the full House for consideration. A similar bill offered by Sen. John Sabatina, D-Philadelphia, awaits action in the Senate.
Unchained at Last, a national organization dedicated to ending child marriage, estimates nearly a quarter million of girls under 18 were coerced into marriage between 2000 and 2010. U.S. Census data shows that, as of 2014, an estimated 2,323 children age 15 to 17 living in Pennsylvania had already been married. Oftentimes, its adult men these girls are marrying.
Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/05/bill-would-set-a-minimum-marrying-age-in-pennsylvania-and-no-we-dont-already-have-one.html