I’m trying to imagine being 17 again and dating a 43 year old man. If I take out the part of the equation where my father would have rightly locked me in my room and had the man arrested, I’m left with the fact that I was still a teenager and was barely able to deal with the fact that I would be leaving all my friends and my home to go away to college. I can’t imagine being able to marry someone old enough to be my father and to be expected to not only give birth right away (and keep doing so for the next 20 years because my older husband wanted children into his 60s) but also to go to college at the same time. I would have had a nervous breakdown at the idea.
Perhaps this young lady is much more mature and intelligent and capable than I was (or than most 17-year-olds are). She’s not the one posting here so who knows. It would not be illegal for the two to get married. Would it be wise, or moral (since the man indicates that the main reason he wants to marry such a young girl is so that she can keep having babies when he is elderly)? I don’t know. Are the girl and her parents okay with this? Mine certainly would not have been, and based on the other responses here, they would not have been alone in their opinion.
To the original poster- something else to think about. My female cousin married a man 15 years older than herself- he was in his early 50s at the time. They went on to have three little girls. Because of his age, he is now retired, and my cousin works full time to make sure they can afford to help the girls with schooling later, and that they have health insurance, etc. The husband also has health problems due to his age that do not allow him to parent the way he would like. There is also the possibility (that increases each year) that he may not live to help my cousin finish raising the girls. Do you really want to saddle such a young girl with such things to worry about? My cousin was in her late thirties when she married, and had already finished her MBA so she could take care of herself and the girls if needed. Your intended wife is not likely to even complete her bachelor’s degree.