It’s a good day when journalist Nicholas Kristof calls your work “heroic.”
Did you see his column yesterday in the New York Times about child marriage in the United States and our “heroic work” to end it — which has led so far to five U.S. states banning this “repugnant” practice?
Kristof cited our new study that showed nearly 300,000 children married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, mostly girls wed to adult men, in many cases before the children were old enough to consent to sex.
“The marriage license became a get-out-of-jail-free card” for tens of thousands of child rapists, Kristof quoted our Fraidy Reiss as saying.
The column told the heartbreaking story of Patricia Abatemarco, who was married at 14 to the 27-year-old rapist who had gotten her pregnant. (You might remember Abatemarco from the webinar we hosted last week, moderated by Chelsea Clinton, which featured bipartisan legislators and advocates including Abatemarco.)
Here are ways you can join our “heroic work” and end child marriage in another 45 states.
