Age of Consent for Marriage
Cuomo, Andrew M. “The Great Seal of the State of New York.” 2017. Raises Age of Consent for Marriage from 14-Years-Old to 18-Years-Old. Online. 24 July 2017. <https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-signs-legislation-ending-child-marriage-new-york>.
Age of Consent for Marriage
Biographical Note: The age of consent to marry has been 14 years in New York for a long time until the Governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, signed legislation that ended this era, thus raising the age of consent to marry to 18 years old.
Summary: This legislation aimed to protect young people and also offered guidelines on people between 17 and 18 years old as it guides judges stuck between granting consent (Cuomo). Early marriage often leads to many young people dropping out of school and failing to pursue their goals. Therefore, this legislation ends these early marriages and gives young people a chance to pursue their goals.
This legislation ensures that a person enters a marriage of their own free will. This ensures that they are not being compelled by coercion, force, or fraud and that marriage will not put them through traumatic events or endanger them mentally, emotionally, or physically (Cuomo). The senator, Andrew Lanza, commended this law arguing that it would go a long way toward protecting children.
Quotation: He specified that the law would protect children, “especially young girls, from the coercive, oppressive and destructive practice of ill-informed or forced marriage” (Cuomo). Research has shown that early marriages affect girl greatly as they are forced to drop out of school and fail to pursue their goals. Therefore, this law will try and protect them from such harm and ensure that they get married on their free will.
