Published: 2017 May 29 14:28:03 (23940 Views)

An American woman was forced to marry her rapist when she was just 11 years old, because she had become pregnant by a 20-year-old man.

Sherry Johnson is from Florida, where there is still no minimum age to marry.

Sherry told the New York Times that a number of other young girls her age at her conservative Pentecostal church were made to marry much older men – which she says was usually to hide abuse by church elders.

She said she herself was raped by both a minister and a parishioner, and gave birth to her first daughter when she was just 10 years old.



Marrying her rapist was one way for the community to end the investigation into the abuse. Even the judge approved the marriage in order to end the police probe, telling the young girl in court, 'What we want is for you to get married'.

Now, as an adult woman, Sherry is calling for an end to child marriage in the US – which is still far too common.

The US has strongly denounced child marriage in other countries – with one State Department document calling it a 'human rights abuse that contributes to economic hardship'.

However, it has yet to make strides in tackling child marriage closer to home.




Source - Metro

You might also want to read this

• Man jailed after tricking children into abusing young relatives
• Girl, 10, told she can't have abortion after being raped by uncle
• Woman cuts off boyfriend's privates 'after he refused to marry her'
• Daughter had sex with father to stop him from marrying fiancee
• Man splits from wife who raped him as boy
• Man 'forced to eat his own privates by gang'
• Janet Jackson and husband split 3 months after welcoming their first child
• Girl, 12, raped by stepfather to get her pregnant because partner was sterilised
• Teen's privates burnt after being accused of raping child

Comment as Anonymous | Comment With Facebook Submit

There are no comments.

Weird News Big Reads

© Copyright 2023 NewsBite is not responsible for the content of external sites | Contact Us: editor@newsbite.it | RSS Feeds | Sitemap