Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - December 8, 2004
It's a traditional practice that international health and human rights organizations decry, because it restricts personal freedom, limits their education and leads to premature pregnancy and exposure to HIV/AIDS.
Rohini, 16, an Indian teenager whose story is told in the accompanying pictures, was married at 15.
She was uprooted from her small, close-knit family to live with her husband's extended family in another village. She dreams of an education, but her husband is opposed to that. So she spends her days doing chores.
In one sense, Rohini is fortunate. A life skills course made her aware of the health risks associated with having babies too young, and her husband has agreed to hold off sexual activity until she is 18.
Other girls are not as lucky.
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