Cspan2soneill on book tv. Washington journal continues. Host welcome back. Emily belz is with us. She is a reporter for world magazine. She wrote a ring by spring. How states are changing marriage age laws. Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it. Guest thank you for having me. Host is there a National Policy regarding marriage age or does it vary statebystate . Guest it is completely statebystate. I was surprised at what the laws are right now. You would think they were midteens, but most states dont have a minimum age at all. The legalwrite marriage age in most states is well below what most might expect 27 states dont have a minimum age. They simply require court approval. Most of the other states set a minimum age at 1416. You talk about a woman named diana fraser. Tell us about her. At 16. Diana got pregnant she told her 18yearold boyfriend at the time that she was pregnant. They decided to get married eventually. She was in iowa. At the time, she had to get parental permission to get married. Her parents werent happy about it. She came from a strict catholic family. They went forward with it and signed the papers and got married and it was difficult because she dropped out of high school and he they were both working minimumwage jobs. It is very hard when you are getting married that young to get the right education so that you can get a decent wage and really succeed in life. They divorced after two years. Then, they got remarried later on. Did have a happy ending eventually, but it was a long road for them. I think money was essentially what she told me was the real tension in their marriage. Because they hadnt had education and had to struggle over that for most of their lives. Host give me a sense of some of the consequences of early marriage. You just outlined some of them. The late education, health issues. What are some of the others . Guest the divorce rate for those who get married under the age of 25 is about twice that of those over 25. That is according to the cdc. That is exacerbated by those factors i mentioned. Education and stress over money and stress over an unexpected pregnancy, for example. Heardissues are what i over and over again from women i interviewed. Its mostly women who are getting married at these young ages. They are missing out on high school and missing out on college. Diana did go back to school. She went to school with her daughter when her daughter was collegeage. Nursingd up getting a degree, but its very difficult for that to happen. She needed the support of her husband to make that happen. Host some 27 states dont have a minimum marriage age. That is ending. Why . Which states are raising their ages . Guest i think those laws had been on the books. Lawmakers hadnt really thought about them very much. Such a small slice of the population that is getting married under the age of 18. There are several groups who have been pushing for this marriage age to change. Over the last few years. They havent found any opposition. In republican legislatures and democratic legislators, lawmakers are pretty much ok with raising the age. ,exas raised their age connecticut, new york, new jersey, virginia. That is all in the last year or so. It has been moving pretty quickly. Theres disagreements exactly over the details, but generally, people are in favor of it. It hasnt encountered too much strong opposition. Host Something Else from the piece from two thousand2010, york reported 3800 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 20002010, new york reported 3800 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 married. That is really stunning. Guest i was done when i read those numbers, too. I didnt understand how the legal system would agree to let these marriages go forward. Then, you get into the particulars of the stories. It is often a pregnancy involved and i assume the courts think its better for this couple to be married and raise the child than for the father to be charged with statutory rape. Those numbers are replicated across the country. Its mostly girls getting married under the age of 18 to help men. Adult men. Thats why the christian groups were concerned with the low foriage age out of concern sex trafficking and that sort of thing that girls can be abused or coerced into marriages. Several people did mention the trafficking aspect to me, which is now a bigger concern for more conservative christian groups than it has been in the past. That number is really significant. In pushing lawmakers to change the statutes. Host we are talking with emily belz. We are taking your calls. Eastern and central time zones, call 2027488000. Mountain and pacific time zones, call 2027488001. Lets go to amlin, ohio. Karen on the line. Good morning. Karen. Certainly not is there anything to prevent minors in these sort of marriages from abuse . Guest that is a really good question. Statebystate as to whether minors can even file for restraining orders. Its a very dicey situation. Do they go to the foster care system . Do they go to a Domestic Abuse shelter . Its just this no mans land that the system has an prepared to deal with. Has not prepared to deal with. There were lawmakers in the discussions over these state statutes to raise the age saying what we really need to do is put in place more protections for minor girls who might be in these relationships, whether it is married or not. That is an interesting discussion that started as a result of raising the age and passing some of these statutes. It is definitely an area where states really havent addressed that in between status of somebody who is married and legally bound to this other person and is maybe now considered an adult by the courts, maybe not. It is a confusing place to be. Host some christian groups support raising the marriage age. There are other groups against it because they feel like it could stifle religious freedom or be a case study of government overreach. Give us a sense of that. Guest i thought this would be , that peoplewar would be strongly opposed one way or the other. There is some Division Within more conservative christian groups and there are groups that are concerned about the age,nment mandating this its hard to get anyone on the record who actually opposes raising the marriage age, so its hard to know who those religious constituencies are, but there was the new jersey right to life group, they opposed the bill in new jersey but also supported the final compromise proposal that governor christie proposed which was raising it to 16 or 17. Their concern was if you make the marriage age 18, you are going to have more teenagers having abortions. That was their thinking for opposing the bill. Ive heard more things from other groups. It varies. The new york conference did not oppose raising the age. They are also prolife. It is different in every state. Host lets go to olympia, washington. Elaine is on the phone. Statutoryused to do rape referrals for the state of washington. They had a program on their judge the ageuld of the mother at birth, at the childs birth, versus the age of the father. Statutory rapeas involved, they would prefer that case, even when those people had been married they would refer that case, even when those people have been married for four years. If it was a product of statutory rape, they would refer that and prosecute the husband, even though they had been married for a long time. I dont know if other states were doing that or not. If they had programs in place that figured the date of conception and the mothers birth date and of the fathers birthday and figured whether or not it was statutory rape. Do all states do that . Guest that is really fascinating. I hadnt heard about a statute like that. I havent encountered that in york, for example new york, for example, theyve approved a lot of marriages between adult men and minor girls. I dont know if one exists in new york. Every state is different and there are laws about that. Thatencouraging to hear washington is trying to be careful about protecting girls from coercion. It is a very complicated issue. Host lets go to minneapolis minnesota. We have val on the line. Caller i hear that you are talking about prevention and having the state may be create more laws. Maybe create more laws. What is happening around the country as far as educating individuals, communities, organizations about developing Healthy Habits . What is a Healthy Family what is a healthy individual . You can get the state involved or the county or the federal government involved, which is creating more institution. The answer lies within communities and individuals. Im wondering what have you found out as far as Community Conversations and promoting what does a healthy relationship look like when you are this age or that age. What is a Healthy Family. Guest absolutely. I talked to a number of people who work in churches, which are very on the ground in communities and have a pulse on things or other nonprofits like them who counsel teenagers on these things. And the churches and other nonprofits are often the first line of defense in terms of teaching kids about healthy relationships and healthy families. And protecting them from abuse. I completely take your point. That is hugely important. Context, thell in big trend right now is not really teen marriage. Slice of small marriages that are happening. Its becoming much, much smaller. We are seeing the marriage age skyrocket. People are delaying marriage. That is the larger cultural trend that communities are looking at as, ok, we have teenagers, how do we educate them about all of these relational and marital questions they might have over the next decade plus when they are thinking about it. Woman with a new ministry on the Lower East Side for 30 years and shes only had one teenager ever was been thinking about getting married. Its a small percentage of the population. I do agree with you that it is the cultural forces that will be avoider in helping teens coercive relationships. Host kevin calling from connecticut. Good morning. Caller good morning. Nice to meet you both. Its subjective. There are many countries that have forced marriages and that sort of thing. Think its right for any to be forced into a situation where they are too young to understand exactly what a relationship is about. Host you care to respond . Guest yes. What i heard from a lot of people was that the marriage roles from christian groups , the thought was the marriage age should match the age of consent. Sex and marriage are linked in the christian tradition. Principle igeneral have heard from groups outside. New york raised its age above the age of consent. New jersey has also done that. Is 16e of consent in york and the age of marriage is 17 or 18. With court approval. Its an interesting situation from that aspect. If you can be coerced or forced , you are going below the age of consent, it is coercion. That is the Legal Definition we have all agreed on. Host our final call this half hour comes from lisa in cleveland, ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. This is an extremely interesting topic. I didnt get married at the age of consent comeau but i was 18 years old when i was married. Dutch consent, but i was 18 years old when i was married. For girls that are married below or at the age of consent but iat was the percentage didnt get married at the age of consent, but i was 18 years old when i was married. For girls that are married below or at the age of consent, what thosee percentage of getting married to escape . The conversation never came up in church about exploring other things like college. Those things were encouraged for us to get married, but not understanding that, for me, part of the reason i did get married is because i grew up in an extremely abusive household. I wondered whether it was researched at all as to the number of girls who may have suffered from abuse at home and used marriage as a way out. Guest im sorry to hear your story. That is very common. I dont know the exact numbers on that. It is mentioned over and over in the literature and the research. Its often girls escaping abusive home environments. You mentioned church. Now are starting to become more aware of how to ask about abuse. Question aor that little bit more when they are counseling teenagers in these situations. Decade,y in the next the church will be an ortitution that prevents addresses abuse when it becomes known and addresses that full force. Situation. Ery common being in an abusive relationship itself is common, that leads to these marriages. I talked to a woman in new york who got married at 15 to an abusive husband. These are two threads that are this smallusual for slice of marriages. I hope that that becomes less of a norm. Thank you for your call. Host emily belz is a reporter for world magazine. That will do it for this weeks spotlight on magazines. Think you for your time. Guest great to be with you. Oft coming up, taking more your phone calls about things youve heard on the program today. As well as the weeks news. Republicans, call us at 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Independents, 2027488002. Twitter and us on facebook. Cspans newsmakers interviewed stephen long, the president and ceo of the super pac closely aligned with mitch mcconnell. Hes asked about the need for gop success on issues like tax reform going into 2018 elections. [video clip] bill, failed obamacare turning back to tax reform, how crucial is it for your candidates in the midterms that you have some wins on the board . What if you dont get obamacare, dont get tax reform, dont get infrastructure . What will you be talking about heading into next year . It will be hard to make the case for sustaining the es in then majoriti senate and house if we have no points on the board on these issues. The obamacare failure was deeply disappointing to republicans. For the same reason to the president and to Senate Leader mcconnell. Tax reform is a must do issue. If we fail to get action on that, people will start to wonder why republicans are in charge of everything. It will take a real team effort. I was reviewing the engine history on george w. Bushs tax cut, which he got into thousand one. The ancient history on george w. Bushs tax cut which he got in 2001. There were republicans who couldnt make the vote. We had only one republican boat against a vote against the tax package. It was john mccain. We got 12 democrats for it. George w. Bush paid attention to detail and worked the hill himself. I dont know that we will have any kind of democrat support for tax reform. It will take that kind of sustained effort and leadership by the president , just like Ronald Reagan did in 1981, it will take that kind of sustained leadership from President Trump to get his tax cut in 2017. Watching how the president approached the hill, do you have any confidence that he has the will to do that . You will have to ask me that question later. Washington journal continues. Host welcome back. We are taking your phone calls this half hour. We will start with the big news of the week here on the front page of the new york times. President warns forces are ready. This is by the Washington Bureau chief. He writes