We’ve been busy here at Unchained At Last: So far this year, 12 U.S. states have introduced legislation to end all marriage before 18, without exceptions: Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas.
We and our allies have been hard at work advocating for these bills — and pushing back against harmful bills pending in Maryland, Mississippi and Utah.
We helped to write some of the strong bills, and already this year we have testified virtually at five legislative hearings and arranged for dozens of our allies to do the same. We’ve hosted Instagram Live conversations with legislators and coordinated virtual advocacy days so we and our allies can “meet” directly with lawmakers. We have launched email campaigns in 12 states. We lead and constantly expand national and state coalitions. We continue to update our detailed analysis of the dangers in each state’s marriage-age laws — based largely on pro bono legal research conducted by the law firms White & Case and DLA Piper.
To date, our tireless advocacy has helped lead four U.S. states and two territories to end child marriage, and we won’t stop until we get all 50 states. You can track our progress here.
Will you join us? See how you can help end child marriage in the U.S.
