(ConcernedPatriot.com) – According to Newsweek, the pro-abortion organization Planned Parenthood is against a proposed law in California that would prohibit child marriage.
Several hundred survivors of forced or child marriages visited the California state capital in Sacramento last month to voice their opposition to the laws that are now in place.
They demanded that the practice be eventually outlawed while wearing wedding dresses, having their hands tied, and having their mouths taped.
California, a firmly Democratic state, was on course to become the first to implement a complete ban on child marriages.
Liberal groups, including Planned Parenthood, the Children’s Law Center, and the American Civil Liberties Union, opposed the legislative proposal.
Daily reminder that Planned Parenthood is an evil organization that profits from the systematic killing of preborn children and abuse of their mothers.
They oppose ending child marriage in California because it may impede minors from obtaining abortions. https://t.co/9Gz37Kll8H
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) August 7, 2023
Because of its concern that establishing an age requirement could eventually result in laws restricting abortions for minors, Planned Parenthood is fighting the proposed ban.
A request for comment from Newsweek received no response from the organization.
“Among their concerns is that a total ban on marriage of minors could be a slippery slope and impede constitutional rights or reproductive choices, including access to abortion,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
California and Mississippi are the only two states in the union without a minimum age restriction for marriage.
With some regional variation, the majority of states set a minimum marriage age of 16 with parental approval, according to the research.
A court ruling and parental or guardian consent are needed for a minor to get married in California.
However, opponents of banning child marriage point out that even if a kid and an adult are married, sexual conduct between them is not criminal under California’s statutory rape legislation.
Jennifer Wonnacott, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told the Times that while the organization “strongly supports” safeguarding children from abuse of any kind, such safeguards should “not impede on the reproductive rights of minors and their ability to decide what is best for them, their health and their lives.”
A child marriage prohibition would not affect access to abortion, according to Fraidy Reiss, the founder of Unchained At Last, a nonprofit organization devoted to abolishing forced and child marriages in the United States.
She also argued that legalizing child marriage is worse for a minor’s sexual health.
“The notion that prohibiting child marriage—a violation of human rights that obliterates girls’ lives—might in any way impair girls’ rights,” according to Reiss, “is absurd.”
“We at Unchained see time and time again that child marriage survivors often lose all sexual and reproductive rights, repeatedly forced to have unprotected sex, and repeatedly forced to endure pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing without their consent,” she added.
According to Unchained At Last, 23,588 child weddings occurred in California between 2000 and 2018, making it the second-highest state for child marriages after Texas.
Early in the next year, the California state legislature is anticipated to attempt to enact a complete prohibition on child marriage.
“The U.S. considers marriage under the age of 18 in foreign counties to be a human rights abuse,” Assemblymember Cottie Petrie Norris, a Democrat, told the Times.
“The reality is this is happening in the dark corners. It is absolutely shocking, and it’s horrifying,” Petrie Norris added.
“If it’s happening at all, it’s too much,” she said.
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