Lawmaker introduces bill to protect marriage.

A state lawmaker introduced a bill to reform several articles of the state Civil Code and Civil Procedure Code in order to prohibit marriage between minors.

Assemblywoman Alfa Peñaloza, a member of the National Action Party, said the bill seeks to forbid people of less than 18 years of age to get marriage licenses and to set the minimum age to marry at 18.

She recalled Mexican legislation has set such age limit for marriage licenses nationwide.

“It is our obligation to keep promoting efforts that were launched in other legislative sessions to prohibit marriage licenses to all minors,” she said. Although the minimum age to obtain marriage licenses here is already 18, legal loopholes permit certain exemptions that might impact emotional and physical development of minors, especially teenage girls.

“We observe school dropout, health risks and other issues like the reduction of development opportunities associated with teenage marriage,” she added.

Although marriage between minors is more common in southern Mexico, the state must not ignore the fact that Baja California is a multi-cultural state that receives many immigrants from other parts of Mexico. The bill was sent to the Legislature’s Justice Commission.

— Arturo Bojorquez, abojorquez@ ivpressonline.com