We need to end divorce in this country. So if we do women need to be old enough to understand what they are getting into and who they getting into it with. Marriage is a horrible life sentence if you are married to an asshole. There *are* assholes in the world. Goats dont want to admit that any white man could be a nightmare to live with, but they are absolutely out there and you dont want them knocking up inexperienced children who are too young to identify them. You will end up with bad and broken marriages. There is no reason for women to have kids before 21 or 22. They make better mothers at that age and there is still time to have 5 or 6 kids if population growth is an issue. If you want women to quit their jobs and stay home and raise children instead then its really unfair to ask them to take such a massive *risk* with their entire future on one person if they are simply *too young* to have experience with how men or how people work in general. Teenage girls make awful decisions and its just taking advantage of them. Besides, why not let teenage girls have a little bit of a childhood instead of turning them into brood mares at 17 or 18. Its just to young. This isnt the middle ages. Is 6 children not enough or something? Do you remember what it was like to be 17? Do you feel like you were ready to handle being the #1 caretaker for an infant at that age 24/7 ? I mean having a baby is pretty much the end of fun.