Child marriage in America has fallen sharply—but not far enough
Resistance to reforms comes from both left and right
WHEN APRIL KELLEY was 15 she was married, against her will, to a family friend seven years her senior. He drove her six hours from her home state of Arkansas into Missouri, which then had looser laws governing the marriage of minors. April remembers a county clerk at the ceremony peering at her tear-stained face and asking if she wanted to go ahead; she was too terrified to reply, she recalls. Her mother and husband-to-be nodded their assent.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Miserable marriages”
United States
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From the February 26th 2022 edition
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