Secular Student Alliance

Wisconsin Republicans had another chance to end child marriage. They chose not to.

A bill would have set the minimum marriage age at 18, with no exceptions, bringing Wisconsin in line with a growing number of states that recognize a pretty basic principle: children should not be getting married.

Instead, Republican legislative leaders once again allowed the bill to die without a hearing. Their defense? Current law protects the rights of parents to make decisions for their children.

But marriage isn't a parental decision. It is a lifelong legal contract that should require the full and independent consent of the person entering it.

Wisconsin's marriage law dates back to 1849. In 2026, adults should not be able to use parental permission to marry children.

This isn't about protecting parental rights.

It's about protecting children's rights. And children deserve the right to grow up before anyone decides whom they should marry.

When we talk about the threat of a national abortion ban, this is what we mean.

These were real women with families, futures, and people who loved them. Their deaths show the devastating consequences when politicians interfere with medical decisions and doctors are prevented from providing necessary care.

For students and young people, the stakes are personal. Your healthcare, bodily autonomy, and future should not depend on your ZIP code or the religious beliefs of politicians.

When lawmakers impose particular religious beliefs through abortion laws, that's also a church-state separation issue.

Religious freedom includes freedom from someone else's religion determining your healthcare.

Images: reprorights

The Pentagon has important work to do. Policing diversity initiatives and merit badges at a youth organization shouldn't be part of it.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly spent months pressuring Scouting America, including efforts to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and certain merit badge offerings. That pressure extended to the National Jamboree in West Virginia.

For more than a century, Scouting America and the U.S. military have maintained a partnership. But government support should not become a tool for imposing an ideological or religious vision on a private youth organization.

Young people deserve opportunities to learn, lead, explore new ideas, and build community with people different from themselves. They should not become pawns in political culture wars.

At the Secular Student Alliance, we believe young people are best served when institutions foster curiosity, inclusion, critical thinking, and the freedom to be themselves.

Children don’t become safer when we replace evidence with vibes, paranoia, and the recycled lies of a disgraced former doctor. They become more vulnerable to measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, and outbreaks we already know how to prevent.

Why does this feel like The Hunger Games?

Public policy must be based on evidence and science, not religious dogma.