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Sherry Johnson was forced to marry her rapist at the young age of 11-years-old after being raped at 8-years-old getting pregnant at 9 and giving birth at 10-years-old. As a grown woman she now dedicates her life to sharing her story and works to help girls who are up against the same thing.

Jacque Reid goes Inside Her Story  to find out more about what Johnson does to help these young women.

“I fell through the loophole of the law where a child could be married if they got pregnant,” said Johnson.  She married her rapist under the law in Florida. “My parent gave consent and the judge agreed. Here I am a bride at the age of 11.”

“Over 200,000 children were forced to be married in the U.S. from the year 2000 to 2015,” informed Johnson. States like Florida and North Carolina have a law that permits child marriages.

“It was happening to children continuously. That subject of being married as child was a taboo subject and now I wanted to touch it and wanted to pursue it,” explained Johnson.

“I’m working on a bill in the Florida legislator to end child marriage completely with no exception. I stated in 2012 and in 2013 this bill passed unanimously,” explained Johnson. However, “It died in the senate…It didn’t pass. I came back at every year pretty much. 14 16 and 17 whoop here it is.”

Since talking with Senator Lauren Book, the bill was re-drafted and submitted to Senate. “Right now this bill has actually passed, January 31,” explained Johnson.

If you want to learn more about Johnson’s story you can get her book Forgiving the Unforgivable on Amazon.

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