“At the time, Clouse was 21 and Linn was 17”
Had the baby when she was 16 and he was 20.
Back then no one cared if a guy was 19 or 20 dating a 17 year old. Today he would be in jail.
Actually that is not enough of an age gap to make it a crime afaik
Also they were perhaps married which is legal with parental consent.
It’s a shame what happened to this young couple who were so excited to start a new adventure in their life.
I got married a couple months after turning 17 and my husband was 18. Back then, that’s what a lot of young high school sweethearts did after graduating. Best decision we ever made and we recently celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. We didn’t move far away from home though. We purchased property only a couple miles from my parents’ home.
Our first child came four years later and then the second one a couple years after that. Now, I get to be relatively young while enjoying my five grandchildren. A couple of my older sisters, who waited until their late 20s to get married, have yet to have their first grandchild. Their children are in their mid to late 20s and none of them are married or even in a serious relationship. They are missing so much of the fun of spoiling grandchildren while they are young enough to do so.