Legal loophole allows Georgia teens to marry
Sharon Cline is on a mission to stamp out an obscure Georgia law that allowed her 13-year-old niece to marry a 14-year-old boy last year. The law allows children of any age to marry without parental consent - as long as the bride-to-be is pregnant.
Says Cline, “Some of the lawmakers just didn’t believe this could happen. It was very frustrating.”
But the case of Lisa Lynnette Clark caught lawmakers attention.
Clark, 37, was charged with child molestation for an alleged sexual relationship with her son’s 15-year-old friend. Days before her arrest, Clark married the teen. Clark’s court-appointed attorney, Daniel Sammons, will likely use the marriage to keep the 15-year-old from being forced to testify against his 37-year-old wife.
Jerry Keen, the Georgia House Majority Leader, “I never knew it was in the code until this morning. Our legislative counsel - the lawyers who draft the laws - even had to look it up.”
State Representative Karla Drenner, the only openly gay elected official in the Georgia state government, commented on the irony of the law in light of the recent issues with homosexual marriage. “We’re protecting society from the perceived threat of homosexual marriage, which was already illegal. But yet if you’re pregnant, you can get married - and it doesn’t matter if you’re 9 years old or 10 years old.”
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