MOST GIRL SCOUTS SPEND THEIR time learning survival skills and selling cookies. But Cassandra Levesque, 18, spent her last year in Girl Scouts drafting and then campaigning for a bill that would raise New Hampshire’s minimum marriage age from 13 to 18.
Under New Hampshire law—as in most other U.S. states—minors can marry as long as they have parental consent and a judge signs off. “Every girl dreams about what their wedding is going to be like,” says Levesque, “but some girls are having a wedding that they never dreamed of. They’re being put into relationships that they’re not ready for.”
Last year Levesque contacted her state representative Jacalyn Cilley about the teen marriage laws in New Hampshire and began drafting a bill to reform the law. In January, Cilley introduced the bill to prohibit all marriages under 16. The bill was later amended to abolish marriages for people under 18, before it was defeated by state house Republicans in March.
This story is from the June 12,2017 edition of Time.
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This story is from the June 12,2017 edition of Time.
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