Protection from Child Marriage

Most Americans believe that child marriage is a practice that occurs only in other countries. But in fact, until 2018, no state had laws completely prohibiting marriage for minors, and even today, only six states ban this harmful and antiquated practice. Unchained at Last, an organization that focuses on ending child marriage, has estimated, based on the available data, that nearly 300,000 child marriages occurred in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018. 

Most states allow marriages under age 18 with certain loopholes, such as requiring parental or court approval. However, because these exceptions can be misused to force children to marry, we only count the six states with laws which flatly prohibit the marriage of minors.

This issue is critically important because too frequently these marriages occur in religious sects where very young girls are forced to marry much older men. Child brides forced into marriage have few options. As minors, they face legal dead ends if they want to end their marriage. In states where their parents (or spouse) have custody rights, organizations and shelters are unable to interfere with those rights. As a result, these children have no legal avenues to escape an abusive family or husband. They are too often removed from school, raped, and forced to live in poverty. The only way to give child brides the legal right to say “no” to marriage is to prohibit marriage among minors altogether.