NH lawmaker calls teens ‘mature and fertile’ in child marriage debate

Local News

State Rep. Jess Edwards said the law could increase abortions while marriage might be better for a “liberty-loving couple.”

New Hampshire lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that would ban child marriage, although one lawmaker went viral for arguing that a “mature and fertile” teenager might be more likely to have an abortion due to this ban.

The measure passed 192-174 and will go to Gov. Chris Sununu’s desk to be signed into law.

Sununu raised the marriage age for the first time to 16 in 2018, from 13 for girls and 14 for boys. State Rep. Cassandra Levesque said she has worked for a decade to end child marriage in the Granite State.

“So many people have worked with me to fight child marriage in New Hampshire. We worked for years, researching, learning, listening and advocating,” she wrote on X. “I will be forever grateful to them.

Only 11 other states have banned child marriage, with no exceptions. Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have completely banned marriage before age 18, according to UNICEF.

The legislator describes adolescents as “people of mature and fertile age”.

A lawmaker asked a question about the ban during a legislative session, captured in a viral video posted on X with more than 1.5 million views, asking whether the ban would increase abortions among unmarried teens.

After state Rep. Jess Edwards called the minors involved “mature” and “fertile,” dissenting voices were heard in the crowd.

“If we continually restrict the freedom of marriage as a legitimate social option, when we do this to people who are of mature age, fertile and capable of having a pregnancy and a baby, are we not, in actually make abortion much more desirable? an alternative when marriage could be the right solution for a freedom-loving couple? » asked Edwards.

Edwards said on Facebook on Tuesday that he filed a police report after receiving three death threats due to his viral comments.

“Social media is a weapon. A Democratic Rep pointed it at me on Reddit and pulled the trigger,” Edwards wrote. “I accept responsibility for choosing a single inappropriate word in the House on Thursday. But the violent reaction is not proportionate.”