Marriage instead of prison: will marriage to a 14-year-old become a legal solution for pedophiles?
4 February 18:20
A group of MPs is planning to make major changes to the Civil Code, and one of them has already caused quite a stir—the MPs are proposing to allow marriage to a 14-year-old if she suddenly becomes pregnant or gives birth to a child. Komersant investigated what such changes could lead to and how necessary they are.
The Verkhovna Rada has received a new version of the Civil Code, which consists of almost 2,000 articles (1,949), compared to 1,308 in the current version. The purpose of the bill, as stated in the explanatory note, is to recodify and systematically update the private (civil) law of Ukraine by adopting a new Civil Code of Ukraine (Code of Private Law) as a comprehensive, internally consistent, and effective codified act.
And, in the new edition, the authors, including Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, propose to supplement Article 1478 “Right to Marriage” with the following wording:
“Upon application by a person who has reached the age of sixteen, a court may grant him or her the right to marry if it is established that this is in his or her interests, and in the case of a woman’s pregnancy or the birth of her child, at the age of fourteen.”
Relationships with minors will be punishable by imprisonment, not marriage
In other words, for something that today can land you in prison, namely a relationship with a minor, after the adoption of this code of criminal responsibility, it will be possible to avoid punishment if the pedophile marries the child. The current Criminal Code contains Article 155, which provides for liability for voluntary sexual intercourse or other sexual acts with a person under the age of sixteen committed by an adult. The punishment is restriction of liberty for up to three years or imprisonment for the same term with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities.
Recently, in Kharkiv, a man was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment for having sexual relations with a minor, as a result of which the teenager became pregnant and gave birth. At the same time, as the investigation established, the man knew that the teenager was not even 16 years old, but this did not stop him. As he claimed, everything “took place by mutual consent, without the use of physical or psychological violence.” This relationship led to the pregnancy of a minor, who was only 14 years old at the time of registration at the maternity hospital in April 2024. A forensic molecular genetic examination confirmed the defendant’s paternity.
The court took into account that the defendant had previously been convicted (for drug possession and hooliganism). Therefore, the punishment was determined based on the totality of the crimes. The man was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 155 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The final punishment was set at 3 years and 2 months of imprisonment.
In the Zhytomyr region, a court handed down a verdict in a case involving sexual relations with a person under the age of 16. A 19-year-old student appeared before the court, having become a father after a relationship with an underage girl who gave birth at the age of 15.
During the court hearing, the defendant fully admitted his guilt and sincerely repented, promising to marry her. For this, the court sentenced him to 1 year of imprisonment for having a relationship with a minor, but released him from punishment. However, he will only be able to marry the minor when she turns 16.
Too much violence against children
As noted by the Ministry of Justice, according to the Family Code of Ukraine, from the age of 18, a couple has the right to freely decide on the official registration of their relationship. However, it is possible to marry at the age of 16 by court decision, without the consent of the parents. But only under the following circumstances: pregnancy of the bride; birth of a child, actual creation of a family, or other important factors. This is aimed at protecting the rights of children, namely to prevent forced or early marriage. Under current legislation, marriage is prohibited under the age of 16.
Lawyers and educators believe that the deputies’ plan to lower the age of the bride contradicts both current legislation and common sense. If the age threshold for marriage is lowered for underage girls, then the Family and Criminal Codes will have to be changed so that entering into an intimate relationship with a 14-year-old girl will not be punishable if the pedophile promises to marry her.
“I’m no saint, but I would call the proposal to lower the age of marriage to 14 immoral. I read a lot of English-language websites, and the issue of lowering the age of marriage is being widely discussed in the context of the Epstein files. And our lawmakers are already acting preemptively. Today, there are many vulnerable children, teenagers who have been left without parental care, who can be forced not only into intimate relationships but also into marriage. This is not normal,” he said in a comment to
[Komersant] .
According to information from Ukraine’s juvenile prosecutors, published on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office, 695 children were victims of sexual violence in 2024.
The largest number of victims were children aged 10-14 (57%).
Teenagers aged 15-18 – 23%
Children under 5 years old – 3%
Children aged 5-9 – 17%
Of these, 85% were girls.
According to Yulia Slipchenko, a social educator at the Adolescent Rehabilitation Center, allowing girls to marry from the age of 14 is a loophole for rapists and will lead to permissiveness among child lovers, because proving moral violence and physical coercion is not so easy, and pedophiles skillfully manipulate the minds of minors, intimidating, persuading, coaxing, promising, and bribing them.
“If this is accepted, it will open Pandora’s box. And this is at a time when the laws are, to put it mildly, lax. When many children are in a vulnerable, depressed state because of the war,” the social educator emphasizes.
However, there is hope that this amendment to Article 1478, “The Right to Marriage,” will not be adopted by lawmakers. After all, it is only a draft law and has not yet been adopted.
Author: Alla Dunina
