California bans child marriage, a practice still legal in 32 US states
Gov Gavin Newsom called it a "long overdue measure to protect young Californians".
California has officially outlawed child marriage, a practice that remains legal in 32 other US states. The new legislation, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, mandates that individuals must be at least 18 years old to wed in the state of California. The law takes effect on January 1st. The legislation was championed by Courtney Stodden, who was wed to a 50-year-old Hollywood actor when she was just 16 years old.
Stodden, a vocal advocate for ending child marriage, called the measure a "victory" and expressed her commitment to fighting until all 50 states recognize the practice as illegal. Stodden, who herself was wed to Doug Hutchison in 2011, said survivors of child marriage should never have been required to bear the burden of these arrangements.
Other survivors of child marriage applauded the new law, with Brittany Bee, a former child bride, telling the BBC that California's action sends a powerful message of hope to children and that they should be free from systemic violence. Bee herself was married at the age of 17 to escape an abusive home, only to later suffer abuse at the hands of her adult husband.
Bee and other survivors have been working for years to ban child marriage in California and across the United States. About a decade ago, the practice was still permitted in every US state, but in recent years, more states have been altering their laws. California is the 18th state to enact such legislation, having previously had no legal age for marriage, allowing children to wed with parental consent and a judge's approval.
Many girls in California were trapped in abusive and predatory relationships due to the lack of a mechanism to divorce and the absence of age limits. Unchained At Last, an advocacy group combating child marriage nationwide, reported that approximately 9,000 girls were wed in California each year, with almost all of these marriages involving adult men.
Sara Tasneen, who was forced to marry a man nearly twice her age at the age of 15, told the BBC that it felt surreal to finally have the state acknowledge that child marriage should be banned. Tasneen, who began advocating for this change in 2017, married her young husband on their wedding day and became a mother the following year, dropping out of school.
Tasneen expressed gratitude for the bill's passage, stating that kids cannot get married in California starting January 1, 2027.
Written by urgent.news from BBC World's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
