Kids Are Still Getting Married in 35 States. Seriously.
Oregon just banned child marriage, but millions of kids across the country are still at risk. Here’s what most people don’t know.
Most people are shocked to hear this, but yes, child marriage is still legal in most of the U.S.
That’s not a typo. In 35 states, children can still be legally married. Some states don’t even have a minimum age. Others allow kids as young as 15 or younger with a judge's or parent’s permission.
I only learned about it this week, and I was absolutely shocked to find out that most states in the country haven’t banned child marriage yet. Yes, 15 states have banned it. But THIRTY-FIVE have not. How is that even possible?
I’m a mother. I have a daughter. And it breaks me to know that girls just a few years older than her are being legally married off, sometimes to much older men, with no way out.
This week, there was a big win.
Oregon became the 15th state to fully ban child marriage. No more loopholes. No more “parental consent” exceptions that allow kids, mostly girls, to be forced into marriages they didn’t choose. Governor Tina Kotek signed the bill after years of advocacy led by survivors and groups like Unchained At Last and the Oregon Coalition to End Child Marriage.
Just listen to Amy Turpin, who testified in support of the bill. She was married at 17 after having her husband’s baby at 16.
“He moved me out of state immediately before I was 18, so I was isolated and trapped,” she said.
“Every worst-case scenario you can imagine has probably happened to me since then.”
Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the U.S.
Most of them were girls. Many were married to adult men several years older. And many had no legal way to escape. Minors often can’t file for divorce or access domestic violence shelters.
It’s horrifying, and it’s legal.
But here’s the part that I want us to focus on: This law passed in Oregon at the state level.
If we want to change the law in the other 35 states, we have to pay attention to who is running for our state legislatures. We have to get involved. And we have to support the organizations already doing the work.
Because this is what happens when everyday people work together to push their lawmakers to do the right thing.
Want to help?
Start by sharing this. Talk about it.
Comment below with your state, and look at the map to check the status of child marriage legislation. Is it legal in your state? Is it banned?
(You can also check out this link)
Then check out Unchained At Last and support their work. They’re leading the national movement to end child marriage.
No child should be forced to get married. Not in Oregon. Not anywhere.
It has taken Maryland *years* to be that grey color. Some of the legislators have been pushing since before I was working in the legislature in 2016.
The Catholic Church and so many organizations and people they can rally by under/misinforming them, come out against it and it’s…so telling.