Panel considers exception to new ban on child marriage
Jan. 28—A former military bride from San Diego came to Concord Tuesday to urge the New Hampshire Legislature to reject a proposal to allow 17-year-olds to marry if one member of the couple is active-duty military.
The bill (HB 433) would create an exception to the state's newly enacted ban on marriage under the age of 18.
Former Army Spc. Brittany Wright told lawmakers she suffered years of abuse after her parents forced her to become a teen bride.
"Child marriage gave my abuser, an adult man who, at the time was in the military, the power to groom, arrest and rape me when I was 14 years old," Wright told the House Children and Family Law Committee Tuesday.
"I escaped at 18 and the divorce left me homeless with no one to turn to for help, except the greatest military force this world has ever known."
Joining the Army, Wright said, she earned her GED and served in the military police corps for seven years.
But Rep. Harry Bean, R-Gilford, a former Army reservist, said he got married at 16, and by 18, he and wife, Phyllis, already had two children.
"Marriage under the age of 18 works if the two people are committed and the parents know their children," said Bean, 70, the grandfather of eight and great-grandfather of six who has been married nearly 54 years.
Rep. Margaret Drye, R-Plainfield, said what influenced her sponsorship of HB 433 was having two sons deployed to Iraq with the Marines.
All branches of the service recruit at age 17 and many recruits at that age have been through basic training.
"I have never heard a 17-year-old soldier be called a 'child' soldier," Drye said.
Under her bill, the 17-year-old not in the military would need written consent from a parent or guardian to get married.
Rep. Katy Peternel, R-Wolfeboro, said the armed forces are finding it difficult to meet their recruiting targets in recent years.
"This is very beneficial for our military," Peternel said.
The ban on under-18 marriage just took effect on Jan. 1. Rep. Cassandra Levesque, D-Barrington, worked for nearly five years on the legislation that made New Hampshire one of only 11 states that outlaw marriage without exception for anyone under 18.
Levesque sat on the committee that heard the bill Tuesday.
"Do you think we should give (the ban) some time to take effect?" Levesque asked Drye, the sponsor of HB 433.
Emma Sevigny, behavioral health policy coordinator with New Futures, a health advocacy group, also opposed the exception, pointing to studies that conclude child marriage was more likely to lead to domestic abuse and mental health challenges.
'Inherently dangerous'
"Child marriage is inherently dangerous," Sevigny said. "This legislation would roll back the progress that we have made."
House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said it made sense to him as someone who reported for basic training at 17 in 1986.
"To be clear, I don't think getting married at 17 is a great idea. If we could I'd outlaw it until you turn 35," Roy quipped.
The exception could be helpful for a soldier who learns upon entering the military that his 17-year-old girlfriend is pregnant. Marriage would grant her and the unborn child critical medical and prenatal care, Roy said.
"Don't see this as chipping away at your work; this is a very fine exception," Roy told Levesque.
klandrigan@unionleader.com
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