Christie Blocks New Jersey From Adopting Nation's Strictest Age Requirements for Marriage

Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday conditionally vetoed a bill that would have made New Jersey the first state in the nation to ban marriage by anyone under the age of 18, a measure advocates had said would protect primarily young women from being forced into unwanted marriages by their families.

 

Instead, Christie proposed banning marriage by anyone under 16 and requiring the approval of a Superior Court judge for 16- and 17-year-olds.

 

“It is disingenuous to hold that a 16-year-old may never consent to marriage, although New Jersey law permits the very same 16-year-old to consent to sex or obtain an abortion without so much as parental knowledge, let alone consent,” Christie wrote in a veto statement. “That inconsistency in logic undercuts the alleged logic of an outright ban.”