For now, the Great Lakes Basin has held off the worst laws. But the rot is being protected.
Throughout the Great Lakes Basin, we’ve done something rare in America: we’ve kept our laws on the side of protecting kids—for the most part. But we still have some work to do.
Every state within the Basin has set solid laws for the age of consent. Four states—Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania—have banned marriage under 18, period. No loopholes. No parental consent workarounds. No backdoor “exceptions” for predators to slip through.
But it’s not perfect. That gap matters, because predators exploit every crack in the system. Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio still allow 16–17-year-olds to marry if certain hoops are jumped through—parental consent, court approval, strict age-gap limits (no more than 4 years age gap). Better than much of the country, but those loopholes are where predators thrive.
And predators are paying attention.
Donald Trump—the Epstein-linked accused pedophile and child trafficker—publicly stated that children as young as 14 should be tried as adults when spewing false crime data about Washington D.C. to stage his coup.
That slip has lit up alarms. For many, it sounded like more than just a bad take on criminal justice—it sounded like a backdoor to lowering the age of consent. Fourteen. Freshman year of high school.
Trump was close to Epstein. He’s been accused repeatedly and found guilty in a civil suit of sexual misconduct himself. He’s even made grotesque, objectifying comments about his own daughter.
Taken together, it paints a clear picture:
when trump says “14,” we should believe him.
Of course, the White House is calling it “fake” news. But let’s unpack this.
In the same political circles as Donald Trump, you hear grown men—elected officials—talking about teenage girls as “ripe” and “fertile,” as if they’re livestock. Similar vile comments have come out of Trump’s own mouth, even about his own daughter.
You also have these same men wanting to force 10-year-old rape victims into birthing the rapists child by passing reckless abortion bans that do not even take rape and incest into consideration. One highly publicized case was about a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who had to cross the border into Indiana to receive an abortion.
And in Texas—the bastion for corruption and control—in 2023, Dallas reporter Jolie McCullough reported that 105 minors age 17 or under left Texas to obtain abortions. Of those, 69 were ages 16 or 17, and six were age 11 and younger.
This is not random. This is not off-the-cuff.
This is deliberate messaging and violations of civil rights to normalize sexual access to minors.
It’s grooming. Out loud.
Abortion Bans & Child Victims
These are not abstractions—they’re children. Abortion bans don’t stop abuse; they trap its youngest victims in trauma.
Ohio→Indiana
10-year-old rape survivor forced across state lines for care.
A child assaulted—then made to travel because her state’s ban blocked treatment.
Texas·2023
105 minors traveled out of state; six were age 11 and under.
Even with bans, families crossed borders to get necessary care for children.
Sources: Ohio 10-year-old case; Texas minors traveling for care (2023).
We Already Know What This World Looks Like
We don’t have to imagine it. Here are some sobering truths at the state level.
Parental/judicial exceptions still on the books.
*Includes states with no minimum age.
CA, MS, NM, OK—children of any age can be married off if approved.
Zero exceptions. That’s the standard.
Child Marriage in the U.S. — 2000–2018
Children under 18 were married in the United States from 2000–2018.
Most were girls married to adult men; the average age gap was about four years.
Minors are often forced into these marriages.
Because they’re minors, they typically cannot file for divorce independently.
Youngest recorded: 10 years old. Also documented: 51 marriages at age 13 and 6 at age 12.
Sources: Unchained At Last (2000–2018 analysis); Journal of Adolescent Health (age distribution detail).
Who Commits Sexual Violence — What the Data Shows
rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.
of juvenile victims know their abuser.
Only 7% are strangers.
The other 93% are already inside — family, neighbors, “friends,” authority figures.
Let that sink in.
Pay Attention to This
Overwhelmingly, the perpetrators of sexual violence are men—and the way our systems respond isn’t neutral.
of perpetrators are men.
This is the baseline. Start here.
White men make up more than half of convicted sexual abuse offenders.
Next: Black men 27%. (Source breakdown below.)
White men often get a pass. Churches protect them. Fraternities protect them. Political parties protect them.
Aggressive prosecution falls harder on Black men; institutional shielding favors white men.
When you combine population dominance with institutional protection, white men pose the greatest danger—not because they’re uniquely violent as individuals, but because society looks the other way when they harm others, especially women and children.
The greatest threat to women and children in the United States is white men. That’s not opinion. It’s data.
Sources: RAINN (overview) ; “Nearly 99% male perpetrators” ; RAINN: Perpetrators by race .
Clergy & Religious Abuse: The Timeline
The Churches Do Not Protect Children
Survey Finding
Convicted Offenders & Religion
93% of convicted sex offenders surveyed described themselves as religious.
Illustrates why abuse is not confined to one denomination.
1950–2002 · Catholic Church
4,392 clergy accused of abusing children; ~100 imprisoned.
Most were moved, covered for, or protected.
2023 · Catholic Church (Illinois)
Illinois Attorney General Report
450+ clergy; ~2,000 children harmed.
Confirms abuse persisted long after 2002.
2024 · Catholic Church (Michigan)
50+ accused; 9 convictions cited.
Illustrates minimal accountability in one diocese snapshot.
2002–2024 · Catholic Church (U.S.)
Two Decades of Allegations & Payouts
16,276 credible allegations; $5B+ in settlements.
Shows the scandal is ongoing, not historical.
1998–Present · Southern Baptist Convention
380+ clergy/lay leaders accused; 700+ victims; ~220 convictions/pleas; 90 still incarcerated; 100+ on registries.
Independent reporting compiled across decades.
Protestant Denominations (Study)
Pastors make up ~35% of male offenders in clergy-abuse cases; ~80% of offenders held official church roles.
Demonstrates abuse across denominations, not just Catholicism.
Media Audit (1,200+ cases)
104 pastors, 37 priests, 21 politicians (17 GOP, 3 Dem, 1 nonpartisan).
Zero were drag queens.
Abuse inside churches—Catholic, evangelical, or otherwise—is not a string of isolated scandals. It’s a pattern.
And let’s talk about the abuse of boys by male abusers. The same men screaming that drag queens and trans people are the real threat are often the ones committing the crimes. The call is coming from inside the house—from closeted men groomed to hate themselves hiding behind a cloak of moral superiority, using it as cover while they harm the very children they claim to protect.
And those same circles are now pushing for laws that would make their abuse easier. And we’re supposed to pretend that a political movement pushing for the threshold for adulthood to be lowered to the age of 14 is about “freedom” or accountability?
No. It’s about power. It’s about access. It’s about erasing the very protections survivors have fought decades to secure.
The Science Behind the Brain → Why Kids Cannot Consent
It’s important to note here that the frontal lobe—the part of the brain responsible for reasoning, judgment, impulse control, and understanding consequences—is still developing at age 14. It doesn’t reach adolescent maturity until about the age of 25. This is the part of the brain that weighs risks against rewards and makes decisions with the future in mind.
Before this development is complete—and highly influenced by heredity and environment—teens are more likely to take risks, misjudge danger, and be more easily manipulated (or groomed)—especially by older, more experienced adults who know exactly how to spot the open door. Pretending a 14- or 16-year-old can “consent” in the same way a fully developed adult can, or fully reason before they act, is either willful ignorance or calculated exploitation. And in too many cases, it’s the latter. Note: willful ignorance isn’t an excuse either.
Michigan: Where the Stakes Are Immediate
In Michigan, this fight is more than theoretical. My state is one of the worst in the nation for human trafficking.
Here, sane laws aren’t just a political stance, they are a lifeline to vulnerable populations.
Raising the marriage age to 18 and holding the age of consent at a protective level is one of the few legal firewalls we have between kids and the men who would harm them.
Michigan: Human Trafficking Snapshot (2007–2023)
3,000+ confirmed victims
10,000+ hotline tips (“signals”)
6,200+ total victims identified
In 2023 alone: 779 signals, 254 cases, 506 victims — mostly minors or vulnerable youth. Detroit, Grand Rapids, and major interstates remain trafficking hubs.
Yet, in a political climate where the Republican president has himself been publicly accused of raping 12- and 13-year-old girls, don’t think for one second that our firewall is safe.
Loopholes are cracks. and cracks spread.
States throughout the Great Lakes Basin might be holding the line today, but if this rhetoric keeps seeping in—if we don’t treat these “14 is fine” statements as the bright red warning flags they are—we’ll watch those protections erode as they are in many states. We’ll see the marriage loopholes in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio exploited until they’re indistinguishable from an open gate. We’ll watch the national age of consent dragged down to match the lowest common denominator of men in power.
That’s why we cannot let this be abstract. This isn’t about “politics” in the way Fox news wants you to think about politics. It’s about your daughter. Your niece. The kid down the block. It’s about whether the law exists to protect them—or to protect the men who sees them as property. And data shows that far too often, those men are already inside the family, the neighborhood, the church.
Where We Stand and What Must Be Done
Publicize who these predators are
They’re often family members, neighbors, clergy, white, male, and trusted. DO NOT PROTECT THEM.
Expose how they operate
They use familiarity and authority to manipulate, coerce, and silence victims.
Call out the perverse language
“Ripe,” “fertile,” “ready” is propaganda to normalize sexual access to minors.
Ban child marriage under 18—no exceptions
No parental consent, no judge’s signature, no loopholes.
Restore abortion rights
Reinstate abortion as a civil and human right in this country.
Make Trump’s “14” rhetoric politically fatal
Period.
We’ve fought too hard to build protections—we’re not letting them be torn down by politicians and preachers who should be in prison instead of behind a podium.