UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 14

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Thousands of kids in the US are getting married, often to adults and with court approval, according to alarming statistics in today’s New York Times. This must stop.

[New York Times]

Lawmakers should quickly forbid such unions. And judges should immediately stop approving such unions.

A moratorium on this controversial and unhealthy practice is the most prudent first step in ensuring the rights and safety of children.

How can we claim that a girl too young to drive a car or a boy too young to vote can make a lifelong, binding legal pledge? That’s absurd and abusive.

We must be sensitive to beliefs that are different from our own. But we must not let adults endanger or victimize children…