Once again, we at Unchained At Last are going to Chain-In to send a strong message to legislators: Stop child marriage.
Like before, we will wear bridal gowns and veils, chain our arms and tape our mouths. This time, we’ll Chain-In in Albany, on February 14. Will you join us?
Child marriage is a human-rights abuse that undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. Often, too, child marriage is forced marriage: Children can easily be forced into or trapped within a marriage, because they face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to leave home, access a shelter, retain an attorney or bring a legal action.
Yet marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states, and tens of thousands of children were married in the U.S. in the last decade. In New York, some 3,850 children as young as 14 were married between 2000 and 2010 – almost all of them girls wed to adult men.
Unchained has helped to write legislation in several states to end marriage before 18. One of those bills is advancing in New Jersey, but two of those bills – in New York and Maryland – died last year because legislators did not move on them.
New York Asw. Amy Paulin is about to re-introduce the bill to end child marriage in New York. Let’s show her our support. Let’s Chain-In to grab New York legislators’ attention and make sure they know we want them to pass the bill this time around.
