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Why has it been so difficult for states to enact legislation that would raise the minimum age to marry to eighteen? The opposition to raising the minimum marriage age to eighteen can be categorized into three main arguments: (1) such legislation constrains personal autonomy, (2) such legislation is an improper intrusion by the government on the fundamental right to marry, and (3) there are already sufficient safeguards against child marriage. If raising the minimum marriage age to sixteen is “too far” for Idaho, there is little hope of raising the minimum age to eighteen nationally any time soon. The bill only sought to raise the minimum age to marry to sixteen. 1606 End Forced Child Marriages Act, if passed, would require “the Department of Health and Human Services to study and report on state laws regarding the minimum marriage age and the prevalence of marriage involving a child who is under the minimum marriage age.” While neither bill aims to create a federal minimum marriage age, their very existence demonstrates that child marriage is clearly an issue worth investigating further.Ī bill seeking to end child marriage in Idaho died in the Republican-controlled legislature in 2019 because it “went too far” according to Idaho State Rep. The first, H.R.485 Stronger Child Abuse Prevention Treatment Act, seeks to amend Section 110 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to include a “Study and Report on Marital Age of Consent.” The second, related bill, H.R. There are currently two relevant bills pending in Congress. On November 16, the Massachusetts legislature held a joint hearing on a bill that would officially ban child marriage by setting the minimum marriage age to eighteen. In October, West Virginia Delegate Joshua Higginbotham met with lawmakers to propose a bill that would raise the minimum marriage age to eighteen. Governor Cuomo signed “Naila’s Law,” a bill eliminating prior exceptions that allowed minors under the age of eighteen to marry. Governor McKee signed a bill eliminating the parental consent exception for minors under eighteen, and former N.Y. Since 2016, there have been twenty-seven states that “have strengthened their marriage-age laws.” New York and Rhode Island became the latest states to outright ban child marriage this summer when R.I. Sixteen states require judicial approval before a minor can marry, fourteen states (plus D.C.) allow court clerks to issue marriage licenses for all minors, one state allows minors younger than 16 to marry without judicial involvement, and four states expressly permit pregnancy to lower the minimum marriage age. states.Īccording to a report published by the Tahirih Justice Center, eight states have an age-17 floor, twenty three states (plus D.C.) have an age-16 floor, four states set the age floor below 16, and nine states do not set a statutory age floor. This means that child marriage is still technically legal in the 44 other U.S. states ban child marriage with no exception. will ever see a blanket ban on child marriage.Īs of July 2021, only six U.S. This article will then discuss why it is so difficult for states to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 and whether the U.S. child marriage laws and overview of recent and pending legislation involving child marriage. This article will begin by providing a brief background on the current status of U.S. In fact, “some 60,000 marriages since 2000 occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.” In the U.S., minimum marriage age varies state-by-state, and only twelve states limit marriage to legal adults. Of those minors married, 86% were girls, and although 96% of these minors were married at age 16 or 17, the data shows that children as young as 10 years old were granted marriage licenses. states and found almost 300,000 minors were legally married between 20.
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A 2021 study looked at marriage certificates from 44 U.S. Bailey Wharton, Associate Member, University of Cincinnati Law Reviewĭespite the fact that the median age of Americans at their first marriage has been rising year after year, underage marriage remains a widespread issue in the United States.