A couple of weeks ago NPR were running a conversation about this whilst i was driving. I had to do a double take and turn up the radio because i wasn’t quite sure i was hearing it all correctly, thinking this had all ended with that terrible Jerry Lee Lewis story back n the mid 1950’s.
But no , this piece by attorney Jonathan Miller that turned up in our inbox yesterday is almost too hard to believe.
Unfortunately what follows isn’t fake news…
When Donna Pollard was 14, she was seduced by a 29-year-old man who worked at the juvenile mental health facility where she was seeking treatment. Two years later, Donna’s mother dragged her to the county clerk’s office to wed her predator. Soon after, Donna’s husband was choking her in front of their infant daughter. As a minor, Donna had no legal recourse.
Donna’s story is not unique: More than 200,000 U.S. minors have been married since 2000; and usually they are girls who suffer greater risks of domestic violence, mental health problems, and future poverty.
Here in Kentucky, there is no age floor below which a child cannot get married. That’s why Donna Pollard is in Frankfort, lobbying for Senate Bill 48, introduced by state Senator Julie Raque Adams, which would ban marriage under the age of 17, and require 17-year-olds to obtain judicial approval. Their efforts have met the opposition of the Family Foundation of Kentucky, a socially conservative group that previously led the fight against marriage equality.
In my latest piece for Kentucky Sports Radio, I discuss Donna’s battle, and share ways that you can support her fight.
Click here to read “Child Marriage is Legal…in Kentucky?!?”
