Wife: Child groom is 'no victim'

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A 37-year-old woman who is seven months pregnant by her 15-year-old groom says she prefers older men, but the teenager aggressively wooed her. Lisa Clark, who is charged with child molestation, statutory rape and enticing a child for indecent purposes, said in television interviews Monday that she still hopes to make a life with him and their baby.

She said the morality of their relationship was open to debate, noting that in the past it was common for 13-year-old girls to be given in marriage. "They're making a big deal out of a 15-year-old," she told WAGA-TV in Atlanta. "And I can assure you that he was no victim. It's not like they are making it out to be. Actually, I'd told him 'no' several times because I prefer someone older, but he was just so nice and so sweet," she said. [...]

Georgia law allows children of any age to marry -- without parental consent -- if the bride-to-be is pregnant. The law dates to the early 1960s and was written to discourage out-of-wedlock births. Clark denied marrying the teen to try to avoid prosecution.

source: Article < Wife: Child groom is 'no victim' >; edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/13/child.groom.ap/index.html; CNN.com (AP); 13 December 2005