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What were the effects of anti-miscegenation laws during apartheid?

The passage of the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act in 1949 banned marriages between white and non-white South Africans and nullified existing mixed race marriages. It was amended in 1968 to invalidate South African citizens' interracial marriages even if the marriage had been officiated in another country. The South African public largely agreed with anti-miscegenation laws, and existing Apartheid legislation already ensured that racial groups were largely segregated and rarely able to interact as equals. Prior to the passage of the law, only 0.23% of all marriages in the country were mixed race as a result of this segregation. Most resistance to the law came from churches, who argued against state intervention in the institution of marriage. However, the law was unchanged until 1985, when the government passed the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act to repeal the ban.

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