TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas may have seen the last of its child brides. After a pregnant 14-year-old from Nebraska drove to Kansas last year to marry her 22-year-old boyfriend, now serving time for having sex with the minor, Kansas lawmakers decided it was time the set a minimum marriage age.
On Thursday, the Kansas House vote 119-0 to approve a bill that would prohibit anyone under the age of 15 from marrying in Kansas and would set strict limits for would-be brides or grooms under the age of 18. The Senate approved it a day earlier, 36-4.
Under the legislation, requested by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a 15-year-old could marry only if a district court judge decided it was in that person's best interest.
Those who are 16 or 17 could marry if they met one of three conditions: permission from a parent or legal guardian and judicial consent; permission from both parents and any legal guardian; or permission from judge if the parents are dead and there is no legal guardian.
Currently, Kansas has no minimum age for marriage if the minor has parental or judicial approval.
In the case of the Nebraska girl - a person must be at least 17 to marry in that state - the girl's mother gave permission for the couple to get married in Kansas last spring after learning that her daughter was pregnant. The couple's daughter was born a few months later, in August.
The groom, Matthew Koso, was charged with sexual assault and sentenced in February to 18 to 30 months in prison for impregnating the girl.
Last month, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue set 16 as that state's minimum marriage age after a 37-year-old woman married a 15-year-old boy, a friend of her teenage son. Lisa Lynnette Clark pleaded guilty in March to statutory rape and was sentenced to nine months in prison.
i know its tiring labeling everyone either republican or democrats, liberal or conservative, red state or blue state......but i'm going to anyway. lets be honest if you took a map and looked at the red states and the blue states you would see that most of the colleges are in the blue states. i'm willing to bet that the average IQ might be a little higher there too. this story tends to prove that out. thank gods those hicks wont allow a girl under 15 to marry bit heres a little hint.....how about not letting them marry until they are 18. you sahouldnt be allowed to marry until you can at least drink in a bar or die in a war. look at every state mentioned (kansas, nebraska, georgia....etc) they are all red states. oh and thank god a 15 year old can only marry if its deemed in their best interest. who the hell thinks marriage is in the best interest of any 15 year old? if marriage is in their best interest i really want to see whats in there worst interest. how bad does life on the farm or in the trailer have to be for that to be in their best interest? this isnt like the 1800's where you need to marry young and have lots of kids to work the fields. where 14 was middle age. we have illegal aliens to do that work now. thank god these drunken hicks picked our president.
happy hump day everyone (not so fast you 14 year olds in kansas)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This has to be one of your most ridiculous blogs. Each state is made up of diverse groups of people - young/old, races, religions, democrats/republicans, liberal/conservatives, etc. To label any state as primarily drunken hicks is ludicrous. The more colleges in the blue states remark is totally without merit. I don't mind your rants, but base them a little more on logic and facts then biased opinions.
of course its ridiculous....but not any more than RAISING the age of marriage to 15. i apologize for refering to the people of kansas as drunken hicks. what i really meant was that the people of mississippi are drunken hicks.
Much better! Thanks!
it's funny how people like you always have to go with the "hick" thing just because you are pissed you don't get your way. I bet you're the kind of guy that would FIGHT to end a war.
Every American has the RIGHT to vote any anyone who says otherwise is the most Un-American person I think I've ever known.
Post a Comment