As the issue of child marriage had garnered much attention in previous months, many were surprised that the bill was rejected. It did not take long for the factors contributing to this vote to come to light. Shortly before the vote was to take place, House Republicans had circulated an alert regarding the bill, citing concerns about the costs that would be incurred and, specifically, what the funds would be used for. The alert stated, "There are concerns that funding will be directed to (nongovernmental organizations) that promote and perform abortion and efforts to combat child marriage could be usurped as a way to overturn pro-life laws." Supporters of the bill from both parties quickly pointed out that the bill included no language whatsoever mentioning abortion or even family planning, but the damage was already done. The plight of child brides was overshadowed by an irrelevant partisan debate about abortion.



However, only two months later the bill was reintroduced. The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2011 is currently awaiting consideration by the House and the Senate. This time around, for the sake of child brides around the world, I hope the bill will be considered without any overshadowing political agendas.



http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/No-place-for-partisan-agenda-in-preventing-child-3547115.php



http://www.churris.com/update-in-shameful-act-republicans-kill-bill-to-prevent-child-marriage



I will note from the last link, that Cantor was one of those leading the opposition to it, and he will likely take Boehner's place when he leaves in 2014. So as much fun as we've had with Cheetos, the next speaker will be immeasurably worse in terms of human rights and outright corruption.



But the 2011 act was finally passed in 2012:



http://www.girlup.org/learn/child-marriage.html



I posted a video on a story of a successful escape from forced marriage, but it was shut down by an uproar and repeated threats of being hidden so I altered it to go back to this story in 2010 above.



Instead of the video of the young girl who spoke on camera of how she would be denied her education and future and was being wronged, in a very passionate manner. It was really moving and I felt it was a testament to the human spirit.



That is the original video which is still under the edits, but was objected to being posted. The reasons given for why the OP had to be deleted were that it was religious bigotry or Israeli propaganda.



I did not delete the OP but edited to put the video behind a new one, and the accusing poster declared his victory on the thread.



However, someone who had seen the video and said it was true, giving examples such as this, possibly the same story:



osman



24. re: Nada Al-Ahdal



I wrote an article on this and also included a photo from a NatGeo magazine section that talked about forced child marriages. If you see the photo you will be shocked, grown men pictured standing as husbands with 11, 12, 13 year old girls.



http://techlivewire.com/2013/07/21/11-year-old-yemeni-girl-nada-al-ahdal-run-away-video-goes-viral/



http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017133398#post24



That was osman's first post and he has not been back after verifying that. The thread turned ugly fast and my intent in posting was getting lost. It was to show the growing awareness of the suffering of these girls and the loss to humanity, and that a change might be coming.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017133398



I saw the story of the murder of a woman in Afghanistan for writing a book, hauled out of her house and shot by local radicals and have not posted it as it was said to be religious so I'm not going there again.



Another news item on how laws in Afghanistan have just changed so that it will be impossible to bring those who commit crimes against women and girls there to justice, period.



I will note from the last link, that Cantor was one of those leading the opposition to it, and he will likely take Boehner's place when he leaves in 2014. So as much fun as we've had with Cheetos, the next speaker will be immeasurably worse in terms of human rights and outright corruption.But the 2011 act was finally passed in 2012:I posted a video on a story of a successful escape from forced marriage, but it was shut down by an uproar and repeated threats of being hidden so I altered it to go back to this story in 2010 above.Instead of the video of the young girl who spoke on camera of how she would be denied her education and future and was being wronged, in a very passionate manner. It was really moving and I felt it was a testament to the human spirit.That is the original video which is still under the edits, but was objected to being posted. The reasons given for why the OP had to be deleted were that it was religious bigotry or Israeli propaganda.I did not delete the OP but edited to put the video behind a new one, and the accusing poster declared his victory on the thread.However, someone who had seen the video and said it was true, giving examples such as this, possibly the same story:That was's first post and he has not been back after verifying that. The thread turned ugly fast and my intent in posting was getting lost. It was to show the growing awareness of the suffering of these girls and the loss to humanity, and that a change might be coming.I saw the story of the murder of a woman in Afghanistan for writing a book, hauled out of her house and shot by local radicals and have not posted it as it was said to be religious so I'm not going there again.Another news item on how laws in Afghanistan have just changed so that it will be impossible to bring those who commit crimes against women and girls there to justice, period.