Republican Defends Child Marriage: I'm 'Pro-Choice'

A New Hampshire Republican lawmaker who has been under fire for defending child marriage has lashed out at his "haters" while insisting that his stance is "pro-choice."

State Representative Jess Edwards inspired outrage last week after describing underage teenage girls as "ripe" and "fertile" while arguing against a bill to raise the age of marriage in the Granite State from 16 to 18. The bill passed by a vote of 192-174 despite objections from Edwards and others.

Edwards told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that he "misspoke" when he used the word "ripe" to describe 16- and 17-year-old girls, admitting that it was "an inappropriate word." However, Edwards argued that the "avalanche of hate" he has received over his remarks is also inappropriate and refused to apologize to "the mob."

"Because I have this avalanche of hate, I really don't want to apologize in the face of that, because I don't want to encourage this behavior for the next guy who says the wrong word," said Edwards. "By giving into all of the mob, I don't want to feed the beast ... I don't care to apologize to the haters."

The Republican, who previously justified his opposition to the marriage bill by suggesting that it would be "making abortion a much more desirable alternative," went on to insist that his stance was in line with his track record of advocating for people to "make decisions for themselves."

"I'm on record as being pro-choice from the New Hampshire abortion perspective, I've been pro-choice in terms of funding the social services necessary to support a welfare system, and so the third leg of that stool is to leave marriage as an option," Edwards said. "I actually think I have an extremely rational and logical and supportable position."

In a statement emailed to Newsweek, Edwards said that he was responsible for an amendment to New Hampshire's 24-week abortion ban that exempts pregnancies involving a risk to the "life of the mother and fatal fetal anomaly."

"Our 24-week standard is MORE PERMISSIVE than at least 42 states, Canada and all of Europe," Edwards said. "We are essentially one of the most accepting of abortion access than the rest of Western Civilization."

Edwards went on to describe marriage under 18 as one part of of a "3-legged stool of freedom of bodily autonomy and self-determination as the couple pursues life, liberty and happiness," arguing that the marriages are only currently allowed if the couple "want to marry each other," have parental permission and are approved by a judge.

"I wanted choice to be able to choose marriage," Edwards said. "The Democrats disagreed ... The Dems killed the choice of marriage. An extreme position, given the vast number of states have some exception. Their ban removes bodily autonomy, subjecting the young women to the whims of the legislature."

Edwards described critics of his underage marriage stance as "an army of control freaks that want to entice a pregnant woman into an abortion rather than allow a marriage" in a Facebook post on Monday.

In his most recent post at the time of publication, Edwards complained that The Daily Beast article had not been "fair" by failing to describe his anti-transgender stance—which has included a comparison between transgender women wearing makeup and white people wearing blackface—as "pro woman."

While the bill to raise the marriage age passed unanimously in New Hampshire's Senate before more narrowly passing in the House, it is unclear whether it will become law. Republican Governor Chris Sununu previously raised the age in 2018, when the law allowed 13-year-old girls and 14-year-old boys to marry with permission from a judge.

Marriage under the age of 18 is legal in the majority of U.S. states. Only 12 states have laws that explicitly ban child marriage. Maine would be the only state in the Northeast that allows marriage under 18 if the New Hampshire ban goes into effect.

Update 05/08/24, 9:26 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from Edwards.