Jess Edwards is a New Hampshire State Representative. He calls himself a pro-women conservative, though it seems pro-women means anti-trans in his lexicon. However, the reason he is on this list is his advocacy for child marriage, something he defines as pro-choice, if choice equals child marriage.
In his speech defending child marriage, he said banning child marriage would lead to more abortion. He said, “… If we continually restrict the freedom of marriage as a legitimate social option, when we do this to people who are a ripe, fertile age and may have a pregnancy and a baby involved, are we not in fact making abortion a much more desirable alternative, when marriage might be the right solution for some freedom-loving couples?”
Indeed, abortion might be a better choice for teens who are still in high school rather than marriage before graduation. Certainly preferable to marrying adults who groomed and raped them.
To be fair to Rep. Edwards, he authored an amendment protecting abortion after six months for the health of the mother and for fetal anomolies, so he is not an anti-abortion extremist.
When his defense of child marriage was criticized, he just doubled down.
- New Hampshire Bulletin: House passes bill to raise minimum marriage age to 18, sending it to governor
- The Daily Beast: New Hampshire Pol Who Called Teens ‘Ripe’ Won’t Apologize to His ‘Haters’