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<div>Please excuse the redundancy in the following information, if it has already been posted. I recently researched the minimum age of legal marriage in the USA, due to a dispute with someone who insisted it was not below 16 years old in any state. The minimum age of legal marriage is often lower for females than males, I think, because of the fact females who get pregnant are viewed as needing some protection in law so that they do not face having an "illegitimate" child, or being an unwed mother. These laws date from the time when an unwed mother was a moral horror and a scandal, and the children of unwed mothers faced negative perceptions, viewed as a burden to society with no legally sanctioned father to provide for them. Therefore it was thought better to allow marriage for even very young women who became pregnant, especially with the restrictions on abortion. Some of the information below may be incorrect or the laws may have been changed, as has been posted about Kansas marriage law, but other states have low legal marriage ages, with parental consent and/or a court order, that might shock many:
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<div><a href="http://www.ci.nashua.nh.us/content/51/74/190/271.aspx">http://www.ci.nashua.nh.us/content/51/74/190/271.aspx</a></div>
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<div><strong>Age<br></strong>A male or female who has reached the age of 18 can marry without parental permission. A female between the age of 13 and 17 years and a male between the age of 14 and 17 years can be married only with the permission of their parent (guardian) and a waiver. A female below the age of 13 and a male below the age of 14 are not allowed to marry under any condition.
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<div><a href="http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=116474">http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=116474</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">State laws make various exceptions for when a teen can marry before the legal age of adulthood at 18. The state with the lowest marriage age is New Hampshire, which allows 13-year-old girls and 14-year-old boys to marry
<span> </span>although parents can annul their children's marriages until the children reach 18, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire and Utah set lower limits when parents approve. Mississippi and South Carolina allow girls younger than 16 to marry, but not boys. California and Massachusetts specify no minimum age, but they require court approval for teens under 18.
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<div><a href="http://www.coolnurse.com/marriage_laws.htm">http://www.coolnurse.com/marriage_laws.htm</a></div>
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<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3"><b>New Hampshire</b>: A female between the age of 13 and 17 years and a male between the age of 14 and 17 years can be married only with the permission of their parent (guardian) and a waiver. A female below the age of 13 and a male below the age of 14 are not allowed to marry under any conditions. If both parties are nonresidents of NH and are below the age of 18 they cannot be married in NH under any conditions.
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<p><font size="3"><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-05-18-marriage-qanda_x.htm" target="_blank">http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-05-18-
<span class="" id="st" name="st">marriage</span>-qanda_x.htm</a><br><br>Q: At what <span class="" id="st" name="st">age</span> can two people legally marry?<br><br>A: A man and a woman can marry without parental consent at
<span class="" id="st" name="st">age</span> 18 in<br>almost every state, according to the Legal Information Institute at<br>Cornell Law School. The exceptions are Mississippi, where boys can<br>marry at <span class="" id="st" name="st">
age</span> 17 and girls at 15, and Nebraska, where the minimum <span class="" id="st" name="st">age</span><br>is 19.<br><br>Girls can marry as young as <span class="" id="st" name="st">age</span> 12 in Kansas and Massachusetts with
<br>parental consent or permission from a judge. And boys as young as 14<br>can get married in those states with their parents' permission. Most<br>other states allow children to marry at <span class="" id="st" name="st">
age</span> 16 or 17 with their<br>parents' approval.<br><br>18 they cannot be married in NH under any conditions.<br>-----------------------<br></font>Ted Moffett</p></div>