If there is any evidence needed that there must be a reasonable limit put on the age at which females are allowed to marry, it is the recent story out of Yemen of a 12-year-old girl married to a 24-year-old man. The little girl, as that is exactly what she was, died during childbirth. The entire situation is abominable. The girl was forced to drop out of school and marry the 24-year-old who apparently found little objection to engaging in sexual activity with her and producing the pregnancy. Severe internal bleeding over a three-day period led to her death in a Yemeni hospital. Child brides are a significant problem not only in Yemen but in many Muslim countries where it is believed that a high percentage of the female population under the age of 18 is married. Children are often married off to older men in exchange for lucrative dowries, relieving the girl's family of the financial and moral burden of raising a girl. Apparently, it is common for the family to extract a promise from the groom that he will not consummate the marriage until the girl has reached an appropriate age. It is difficult to argue against some long-established customs but it is also difficult not to call into question the mental stability of a young man who finds himself moved to engage in sexual activity with a little girl, whether she has the ability to procreate or not. The Yemeni Parliament has passed a law establishing the age of 17 as the legal age of consent for a woman to marry. The president has yet to sign it, however, as many are arguing that it is an unjust law sincelocal tradition does not place a limit on the permissible age for marriage. It is difficult to believe that anyone in this or any other part of the world would sanction such an abomination as the marriage of a fully grown adult to a 12-year-old child. The death of the young Yemeni girl and her child should be ample proof of that. __
