Great news for women and girls: The New Jersey senate voted 30-5 today to pass the bill Unchained helped to write to end child marriage. The bill is still pending in the New Jersey assembly.
Perhaps you’ll recall that last year Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed identical legislation after it passed in both houses of the legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. But with a new and improved governor in office, New Jersey once again looks likely to become the first U.S. state to end all child marriage, without exceptions.
Marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states. Laws in 22 states do not specify any minimum marriage age.
Child marriage often is forced marriage, because before children become legal adults, which in most states happens at 18, they are nearly powerless to say no to a marriage, either before it happens or once they are already in it. They face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to leave home, enter a domestic violence shelter, retain an attorney or bring a legal action such as a divorce.
Further, child marriage has devastating consequences for girls. Marriage before 18 in the U.S. has been shown to destroy girls’ health, education and economic opportunites. A global study also showed marriage before 18 significantly increases a girl’s risk of being beaten by her spouse.
Unchained leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in America by passing simple, commonsense legislation in all 50 states, and at the federal level, to eliminate the legal loopholes that allow and even encourage child marriage.
So far, legislators in state after state have rejected or watered down the legislation. Many have insisted a teenage girl who gets pregnant has no choice but to marry, even if she was raped. Several states have passed legislation to “limit” rather than end child marriage.
Unchained is not giving up. In addition to New Jersey’s pending bill, Unchained is pushing to pass strong legislation to end all child marriage that is now pending in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vermont and Louisiana.
