It's been a landmark year for activists seeking bans against child marriage in the U.S. On Sept. 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Bill AB 1267, setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage in the state, with no exceptions. The bill, sponsored by Unchained at Last and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, was authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin.
It repealed provisions that had allowed minors to marry with parental consent and judicial approval, a system that meant California had no statutory minimum marriage age. The law also removes the parallel exception that allowed minors to enter domestic partnerships. Its passage marks the culmination of a nearly decade-long campaign by survivors and advocacy groups to outlaw marriage before 18 in the state.
California is now the 18th state to prohibit child marriage without exception; such marriages remain legal under varying restrictions in 32 other states. The signing also brought survivor voices to the forefront. Newsom signed the measure alongside advocate Courtney Stodden, who was 16 when her parents permitted her to marry 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison and has since become an outspoken campaigner against child marriage.
"The heart of this effort has always been the survivors," Pellerin said after the bill was signed. "They told us what it means to be a child in a marriage you did not freely choose." She pointed to the difficulties minors can face in seeking legal help, leaving home or escaping adults who may be enabling the marriage. "Because of them, California children are safer." The issue of child marriage — when one partner is under age 18 — is a global concern.
The United Nations calls it a "human rights violation," citing a litany of concerns for child brides: "early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at risk of domestic violence." Yet every year, the U.N. estimates that 12 million girls become child brides. Child grooms, the U.N. further notes, may be forced into "an adult role for which they are unprepared," with pressure to drop out of school and support a family. The U.N. has set the goal of ending child marriage by the year 2030.
Since 2021, countries as diverse as Sierra Leone, England, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic have been passing legislation to set the marriage age at 18, with no exceptions. In the United States, the current push for a national law is controversial — some have criticized provisions in the proposed legislation, and others oppose it altogether. And legislation is not necessarily the solution.
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