New Jersey is now the fourth state where legislation is pending to end child marriage, thanks to the work of Unchained and its allies.
Click here and here to read two of the many news media articles about this that have been published recently, and expect soon to see Unchained interviewed on Al Jazeera America television and on NPR radio.
Ending child marriage in the US
Currently, child marriage is legal in all 50 states – and children in the US have been marrying at an alarming rate, as Unchained revealed in October in an op-ed in the New York Times. In New Jersey alone, 3,499 children as young as 10 were married between 1995 and 2012, mostly minor girls married to adult men.
Since that op-ed was published, legislators in four states have worked with Unchained and its allies to introduce legislation to end child marriage:
- New York, where A8563 is pending
- Virginia, where SB415/HB703 is advancing, thanks to Tahirih Justice Center’s advocacy
- Maryland, where HB911 was introduced two weeks ago
- And now New Jersey, where Asw. Nancy Munoz has introduced A3091