WE DID IT! We set out in December to raise $20k by 2020. Then, after passing that goal just halfway through the month, we decided to double it to $40k. By the end of the month, we raised over $50,000 — more than double our goal. Thank you to all of you who donated to help us continue to fight forced marriage and child marriage in the U.S. through 2020 & beyond.
Learn more about our programs and what those donations are going to fund in the coming year.
Learn more about forced marriage and child marriage in the U.S. and what we’re doing to end it.
Our hard work has paid off in the U.S. Virgin Islands: The legislature voted UNANIMOUSLY yesterday to end child marriage! Bill #33-0109, championed by Sen. Javan James, now goes to the governor, who has promised to sign it into law next year.
So we have now helped to end child marriage in New Jersey, Delaware and — imminently — the U.S. Virgin Islands. American Samoa also ended child marriage last year.
Read more here about child marriage in the U.S. and our work to end it in all U.S. states and territories.
Michelle’s story*
At 16, I was forced to marry a man I’d known for two months. No one ever asked me, “Do you want to get married?”
YOU CAN SAVE LIVES LIKE MICHELLE’S. Let’s raise $20k by 2020 so we can continue to fight forced and child marriage in the U.S. through direct services and advocacy.
We provide crucial, often life-saving, legal and social services, always for free, to help individuals in the U.S. to escape forced marriages and rebuild their lives.
We also lead a national movement to end child marriage — which often is forced — in all 50 U.S. states and at the federal level. Last year we achieved two historic victories in Delaware and New Jersey. Two down, 48 to go.
Unchained At Last is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and all donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
*Name has been changed. Photo is not of Michelle. Read Michelle’s full story here.
Click here to track our progress as we push to end child marriage in every U.S. state and territory, including the gorgeous tropical islands.
The Pennsylvania senate voted unanimously yesterday to pass SB81, the bill we’ve been promoting nonstop for the past three years to end child marriage. Can we get a WOOT WOOT?
You will recall that the Pennsylvania house already unanimously passed the house version of the bill, HB360, earlier this year, which means PA is the first U.S. state where every single legislator supports ending child marriage, a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives. Can we get a round of applause for the PA legislature?
Now one of the bills, either SB81 or HB360, must cross to the other house and pass again before the governor can sign the bill. If you live in Pennsylvania, urge your legislators to act now and make Pennsylvania the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to eliminate all marriage before age 18. Where you live, read more here about the national movement we lead to #endchildmarriage in the U.S.
“The gutsy women in this book share a fierce optimism that their work and lives will make a difference in the world,” Chelsea Clinton said. “And, they’re right.”
You can order The Book of Gutsy Women on Amazon Smile – and please select Unchained At Last as the charity to benefit.
This event, sponsored by DLA Piper, honored some exemplary members of Unchained’s family of supporters:
Photos courtesy of Holly Martin
Charity Pot is a gorgeous body lotion that does a lot of good — and not just for your skin. Lush donates 100% of all Charity Pot sales to grassroots organizations including Unchained that fight for human rights and other important causes.
Plus, some particularly awesome organizations get to be featured on the Charity Pot lids. Now our crusade against forced and child marriage in the U.S. is advertised on philanthropic skin softener being sold online and in Lush stores across North America.
Email MA representatives now to tell them to pass S2294/H1478: Click here if you live in MA or click here regardless of where you live.
Let’s make Massachusetts the third state to end all child marriage!
As usual, our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and the news media, including PennLive, PAHomepage/Eyewitness News and ABC.
Speakers included:
Our message to legislators and the governor was clear: It’s time to pass HB360/SB81 and make Pennsylvania the third U.S. state – after Delaware and New Jersey – to end child marriage.
We at Unchained At Last lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by eliminating the legal loopholes in all 50 states and at the federal level that allow, and even encourage, child marriage. Seventeen states, including Massachusetts, do not specify any minimum age for marriage.
Read more here about Chain-Ins, the powerful form of peaceful protest that we invented to raise awareness of forced and child marriage in the United States.
