Bride-to-be told she's not bright enough to wed

A woman with learning disabilities in Dunfermline, Fife has been told by social workers that she's not intelligent enough to get married. Kerry Robertson was set to wed Mark McDougall just days before the social workers shattered her dreams.

Miss Robertson is five months pregnant with McDougall's child. The couple met in January of this year. McDougall had dated his fiance for two months before he was even aware she had learning disabilities. They had planned on being married Sunday. Robertson was raised by her grandmother since she was nine months old. Social workers from Fife council have also been overseeing her throughout her life. Those social workers have deemed that the young woman, 17, is not mentally capable of getting married. In Scotland a registrar can refuse to join a couple in marriage if he believes that one or both of the parties does not understand what marriage is about. McDougall admits that Robertson is not an academic but says his bride-to-be is functioning at a higher level than the social workers have lead the registrar to believe. Robertson is facing an assessment to decide if she is too unintelligent to get married. That decision also will factor into if the young woman will be allowed to keep her son when he is born.