Dressed in bridal gowns and chains, we and our allies gathered at the Michigan State Capitol Thursday to urge Michigan legislators to pass HB4297-4302/SB209-217 & SB246, the simple, commonsense bill package that would end child marriage in Michigan.
Speakers included:
Our Chain-In drew the attention of passersby and news media, including MLive, WLNS-TV 6, WILX, WWMT News Channel 3, UpNorthLive and more.
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
One of the strategies we use in our push to end this human rights abuse is the Chain-In. Read more here about this powerful form of peaceful protest, which we have staged in multiple U.S. states.
Yesterday, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted YES on the bill to end child marriage!
The bill still has to pass the Senate and be signed by the governor, but Connecticut is now one step closer to becoming the NINTH U.S. state where our relentless advocacy has helped to end all marriage before 18, without exception. If you live in Connecticut, email your senators now to urge them to pass HB6569, championed by Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, and end this human rights abuse!
Some rare good news for girls in this country: Vermont just became the eighth U.S. state where our relentless advocacy has helped to end child marriage!
Gov. Phil Scott just signed legislation championed by Rep. Carol Ode to make the marriage age in Vermont 18, no exceptions.
Twice before, in 2018 and 2022, the same legislation in Vermont — also sponsored by Rep. Ode — died because the legislature failed to act on it.
We refused to give up. We formed the Vermont Coalition to End Child Marriage with allies across Vermont and beyond who were determined to see Rep. Ode’s legislation pass. We compiled in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case and DLA Piper. We met one-on-one with legislators. We spoke at public events and forums. We testified at legislative hearings and submitted memos of support, and we recruited our allies to do the same. We launched email campaigns to target state legislators.
And it worked!
Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and Elluminate made our work possible with their generosity. And you made this victory possible, if you took action on our email campaigns, shared our posts on social media or supported us financially.
Previously, parents could enter 16- and 17-year-olds into marriage in Vermont without any input from the teen and without any legal recourse for a teen who did not want to marry.
Marriage before age 18 creates a hellish legal trap: Even the most mature 17-year-old cannot easily leave home to escape an unwanted wedding, enter a domestic violence shelter to seek safety, nor retain an attorney to help them.
Further, marriage before 18 produces such devastating, lifelong repercussions for girls, in almost every aspect of their lives, that the U.S. State Department has called it a human rights abuse.
This human rights abuse happened with alarming frequency. Our study found that some 298 minors were entered into marriage in Vermont between 2000 and 2022. About 80 percent were girls wed to adult men an average of 4.2 years older.
Vermont has now joined Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts in embracing the simple, commonsense legislative solution we are pushing in all 50 U.S. states: Set the marriage age at 18, without exceptions. Such legislation harms no one, costs nothing and ends a human rights abuse.
Only 42 states to go to eliminate a human rights abuse and nightmarish legal trap that destroys nearly every aspect of American girls’ lives. We promise to keep pushing to make sure the U.S. keeps its promise under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to end forced and child marriage by year 2030.
Your support makes that possible! Please donate now.
The Vermont Coalition to End Child Marriage includes:
Child marriage is an urgent problem in Michigan. Dangerous legal loopholes allow parents to enter a child of ANY AGE into marriage without any input required from the child, and without any real legal recourse for a child who does not want to marry.
Our research shows that 5,426 children, some as young as 14, were married in Michigan between 2000 and 2021. Twelve of them were not even old enough to consent to sex. Some 95 percent of the children wed were girls married to adult men an average of 4.3 years older — often with devastating, lifelong consequences for the girls. There’s a reason the U.S. State Department has called marriage before 18 a “human rights abuse.”
This calls for a protest.
We will Chain-In in Lansing on May 4. We will wear bridal gowns and chains to urge legislators to pass HB4297-4302/SB209-217 & SB246, the simple, commonsense bill package that would end child marriage in Michigan.
Speakers at the Chain-In will include:
We also will sing and chant against forced and child marriage, including a rendition of The Girls You Have Destroyed, a chilling poem/song we wrote about child marriage in the United States.
Chain-In Lansing
May 4 | 9:30 a.m.
West Steps of the Michigan State Capitol
100 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing, MI
Child Marriage in the United States
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
Join the movement. Chain-In with us to demand an end to this human rights abuse.
The Vermont House of Representatives voted (again) to end child marriage!
As you might recall, the House previously voted YES on legislation to make the marriage age 18, no exceptions, but it had to vote again after the Vermont Senate last week approved a strengthened version of the bill. The new version specifies that emancipated minors are protected, to avoid any confusion.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Carol Ode, now goes to Gov. Phil Scott, who has six days to take action. If he signs the bill — as we expect him to do! — or lets it pass on its own, Vermont will become the eighth U.S. state where our relentless advocacy has helped to eliminate a human rights abuse.
The Vermont Senate just voted to end child marriage! The Vermont House of Representatives now needs to pass the bill again, because the senate amended the bill to make it even stronger — and then the bill will head to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk.
If the House comes through for us and Gov. Scott signs the bill, sponsored by Rep. Carol Ode, Vermont will become the EIGHTH U.S. STATE where our relentless advocacy has helped to END CHILD MARRIAGE!
We know you are as determined as we at Unchained are to make sure every U.S. state passes legislation to ban child marriage. As you know, we lead the national movement to set each state’s marriage age at #18NoExceptions, and to date we have achieved historic legislative victories in seven states. Only 43 to go.
Here’s our roundup of the legislative — and legislator — battles we are fighting right now and how you can help us win each one:
First, let’s talk about the good bills. Right now, 10 states have pending legislation that would end all marriage before 18, without exceptions:
Two more good bills died or were defeated in the legislature so far this session:
Now let’s discuss the bad and ugly bills:
We are able to lead the growing national movement to end child marriage — despite the bonkers opposition from legislators — thanks to generous support from allies including Roberts Foundation, Conboy Foundation, Focus for Health, Elluminate, Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago — and you!
Our uphill battle to end child marriage in the U.S. — despite pushback from apathetic lawmakers and clueless opponents — was described in the Washington Post on Friday.
“Legislators are looking at this and just kind of yawning,” as our Fraidy Reiss is quoted as saying. “Legislators are not accustomed to making girls a legislative priority.”
The story comes on the heels of the premiere of “Unseen Housewives,” our “trailer” for the show that must not go on: child marriage in the U.S. Please help end child marriage by viewing and sharing “Unseen Housewives.”
This show must NOT go on.
Please take three minutes to watch “Unseen Housewives,” our outrageous, provocative “trailer” about the reality of child marriage in the U.S. — and help us take the video viral, so we can end this nightmare for Jennifer, Patricia, Jenn, Fatemah and the hundreds of thousands of other Americans whose lives have been ripped apart by child marriage.
“Unseen Housewives” premiered on Friday, when more than 300 people joined us in New York City and on Zoom for our hybrid parallel event to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Now help us get everyone in the world to see it too. Watch and share!
More than 300 people joined us in person at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City and on Zoom today for our hybrid parallel event to the 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. They were among the first people to watch “Unseen Housewives,” our outrageous, provocative “trailer” for a show that must not go on: child marriage in the U.S., and to take a look behind the scenes with its creators and the child marriage survivors featured in it.
If you didn’t get to join us, you can watch a recording of the event below.
