Yemeni Child Bride, 12, Dies in Childbirth

A pregnant 12-year-old Yemeni girl has died after three days of excruciating labor that also claimed her baby, a human rights group tells CNN. Fawziya Ammodi's poverty-stricken family forced her to drop out of school last year to marry a 24-year-old man. More than half of Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18—many times to much older men

The issue gained prominence last year when a 10-year-old successfully obtained a divorce from an older husband she said beat and raped her within weeks of their marriage. Yemeni legislators have since tried—unsuccessfully—to set the minimum age of marriage at 17, but the practice remains commonplace.
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