On April 4, the Virginia state legislature voted to change state law and raise the marriage age to 18. A few days later, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed the measure into law.
This vote took place during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the US and was an important victory for children’s rights. Protecting vulnerable minors from sexual assault should include a ban on child marriage throughout the United States. But Virginia is only the 12th U.S. state to ban child marriage. The other 11 issued their bans between 2017 and 2024. This means that until 2017, child marriages were legal across the U.S. under certain conditions: if the parents or a judge consented, or if the minor was pregnant or had a child. These gaps effectively ensured that the practice was widespread.
Only 12 out of 50 states have a ban on child marriage, which is an embarrassingly low number. Much more needs to be done. We must ban child marriage nationwide.
Although Americans often view it as a “foreign” problem, child marriage is surprisingly widespread throughout the U.S., spanning different regions, religions and cultures, according to a new study from the Population Institute titled “Behind Closed Doors: Exposed and Addressing.” Harmful Gender-Based.” practices in the United States. Between 2000 and 2018, an estimated 300,000 minors under the age of 18 were legally married in the United States. California, for example, does not set a minimum age for marriage and more than 8,000 children are married there each year.
86 percent of child marriages reported in the United States were between adults and minors, most often between girls ages 16 to 17, but sometimes as young as 12. Marrying adult men creates a dangerously unbalanced power dynamic that increases the risk of domestic and sexual violence.
To be clear, child marriage is a form of gender-based violence and a human rights violation. In addition to physical and emotional abuse, it puts minors at greater risk of poverty and exploitation and denies them educational and economic opportunities. It is the leading cause of adolescent girls dropping out of school worldwide. In the United States, women who marry before age 19 are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school, four times less likely to complete college, and more likely to live in poverty , is 31 percent higher. The consequences reverberate throughout their lives, perpetuating the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty.
However, because there is no comprehensive federal law setting a minimum age of marriage and the patchwork of state child marriage laws is inconsistent and riddled with loopholes, this practice persists. The myth of American exceptionalism, the contradictory belief that child marriage is someone else’s problem and that it cannot happen here, blocks constructive public discussion and effective legislation.
This misguided belief fuels a cycle of neglect and inaction that prevents states from taking effective action.
Opposition to introducing a ban on child marriage comes from both conservative and progressive groups. Conservatives argue it would harm religious freedom. Progressives fear it could deprive minors of the ability to make sexual and reproductive decisions.
But child marriage threatens a child’s bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom more than any ban ever could. Ending it is more important to the health and dignity of American children than preserving outdated traditions. They need protection from entering into legal contracts that they cannot escape and the empowerment to make their own decisions about their lives.
While the United States has spoken out loudly against child and forced marriage in other countries, laws against it in the United States are patchy, weak, and fail to protect those at risk. In fact, most US states largely do not adhere to international child rights standards.
To end child marriage in the United States, one must first recognize it as an urgent, ongoing domestic problem. Further stigmatizing the practice or marginalizing affected communities will not help. U.S. policymakers should focus on learning from survivors, understanding the root causes and real impacts of child marriage, and working with them to build support for banning child marriage in every state.
The goals of survivor-led advocacy include raising awareness, passing effective, actionable laws, investing in comprehensive sexuality education, and expanding reproductive health support services and resources. State authorities should support such efforts.
All states should commit to adopting and implementing a strong legal framework that sets the minimum marriage age at 18 without exception. This is the only way to ensure complete and free consent. It is incumbent upon policymakers, stakeholders and community members to oppose child marriage and other harmful gender-based practices and to uphold each individual’s fundamental right to bodily autonomy and dignity.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.