Polygamists urged to abjure child marriage

SALT LAKE CITY, June 19 (UPI) -- A coalition of law enforcement and social service agencies in Utah and polygamists is urging polygamist groups to promise to avoid child marriages.

Two large groups have publicly said that they don't approve marrying underage girls, the Deseret Morning News reported.

"I think it's important to have people publicly state that they're not going to marry underage girls," Paul Murphy, coordinator of the Safety Net Committee, said Wednesday. "I think it's also important that people will be held accountable for their words."

Polygamous marriages aren't legally binding in the United States. But churches can perform marriage ceremonies involving multiple partners as long as everyone involved is at least 18.

The Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints recently released a statement pledging in the future to avoid child marriages. The church's head, Warren Jeffs, was convicted of forcing a teenager to marry her cousin and Texas authorities raided the group's YFZ Ranch and seized hundreds of children, although they were later forced to return them to their parents.

The Apostolic United Brethren issued a similar statement in May.