I pronounce you man and wife…. August 19, 2007
Posted by psmc in America, Arkansas, Familiy, Government, humor, Jerry Springer, LAw, Marriage, Politics, Society.1 comment so far
In a horrible case of life imitating a bad episode of Jerry Springer, the state of Arkansas has mistakenly lowered the age that people can marry to, well, now there is no minimum age. Infants can now get married. Before this law went into effect the age of consent was 16 for women and 17 for men. They had wanted to make it 18 for everyone. But the bill had an exception in case of pregnancy. If there was a pregnancy involved and one or both participants under 18, then they could marry with parental consent.
However due to a typo the new law read: “In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage.”
In other words, if the parents say yes, then kids can get married at any age. I’m not sure but I believe due to this wording, makes marriage in case of pregnancy IS prohibited. At least while the pregnancy lasts.
Amazing the power of one three letter word. Even more depressing, two houses of a state legislature along with the governor’s office bothered to read the law they were passing. Makes you wonder what else is has been made legal, or illegal, and no one yet figured it out.
In order to fix this, another law has to be passed. This will require a special session of the Arkansas legislature since it is now in recess and won’t meet again until 2009. Frankly I think the people of Arkansas would be better served if these turkeys never would have convened in the first place.
The story can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/yvu29d
Random Musings and Mutterings of a Chaotic and Curmudgeonly Soul 