According to a May 28 report by the U.S. media "Cascade Advocate," on the same day, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed an order to raise the minimum marriage age in the state to over 18 years old, which was met with great delight from local media and social activists. However, this news left many netizens outside the United States baffled, as it means that until 2025, child marriage will still be allowed in Oregon. What’s more surprising is that there are far more than one state in the U.S. that allows minors to marry... Local media reported that previously in Oregon, minors aged 17 who had obtained consent from their parents or guardians could get married. However, the local law only considered the opinion of the guardian but did not take into account whether the minor themselves were willing to get married. This meant that guardians could ignore the child's wishes and force them into marriage. Many U.S. media directly referred to such behavior as "child marriage" (child marriage). At the same time, because the process for divorce for minors is just as complicated as for adults, and minors do not have complete civil rights, this means that divorces for minors are particularly difficult. What’s even more unsettling is that while federal laws in the U.S. and most state laws protect minors from sexual abuse by adults, if such abuse occurs within a "marriage," it may become "legal." According to investigations by relevant institutions, in local cases of "child marriage," the vast majority involve underage girls being "married" to adult men. Therefore, American women's rights groups pay particular attention to this issue. The "Cascade Advocate," which reported the news, is also a media platform of a U.S. leftist think tank, long focusing on the livelihood issues of grassroots communities in the U.S. The report also mentioned that due to previous regulations in states like Oregon, which allowed minors to marry without needing their own consent, as long as they obtained approval from their guardians—this created a loophole for "human trafficking" and "identity trafficking." These legal loopholes have led to many underage American girls being "legally" forced to marry foreign men in order for the latter to obtain U.S. visas and identities. At the same time, some American men have also used this loophole to "legally" marry underage foreign girls. [Image: A diagram showing the legal marriage ages in various U.S. states made by an American organization. Due to the earlier production time, Oregon is still categorized as having a legal marriage age of 17.] In Oregon, the bill to raise the minimum marriage age quickly passed, meaning that Oregon has become the 14th state in the U.S. to ban minors from marrying. However, in most other parts of the U.S., "child marriage" is still legally allowed. The report gave examples such as California not setting a minimum marriage age, while Hawaii sets it at 15 years old, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho set it at 16 years old. Ironically, in the relevant laws of most U.S. states, the "age of adulthood" is 18 years old. In exceptions like Alabama, Nebraska, and Mississippi, the age of adulthood is even higher, at 19 or 21 years old. Some U.S. media have lamented that Americans often think that child marriages occur on the other side of the world and do not realize that the U.S. is one of the worst countries in terms of this problem. This article is an exclusive contribution from Observer Network and cannot be reproduced without permission. Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/75101256896663/ Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone. Please use the "like/dislike" buttons below to express your opinion.