Just when you thought nothing good happens anymore: The bill we and our allies have championed for more than six years, to ban child marriage, has officially passed into law. !!!
It passed without a gubernatorial signature. Disappointingly, Gov. Janet Mills chose not to sign this important bill to ban a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
In our battle against this human rights abuse, we are now 14 states, one district and two territories down — including the entire northeastern United States, down to Maryland (we’re coming for you, MD!). What an extraordinary victory for the more than 9.6 million girls who live in those areas.
But we need to your help as we continue fighting: Some New Hampshire legislators are trying to bring back child marriage (WTF?). Please take 60 seconds right now to email New Hampshire legislators and urge them not to return to the Dark Ages.
Maine took an important first step in 2020 toward ending child marriage by raising the marriage age to 16, then another important step in 2023 by raising it to 17, but neither law went far enough: Some 79% of the minors who married in Maine before the 2023 law change were aged 17 (and 100% of the minors who married in Maine before the 2020 law change were age 16 or 17), so the 2023 law protected only 21% of those impacted by child marriage. Prior to 2020, the law allowed a parent to marry off a child of any age.
The new legislation closes the dangerous legal loopholes that allow parents or a judge to enter a 17-year-old into marriage without any input required from the teen, and without any real legal recourse for a teen who does not want to marry.
Our research found that some 1,174 minors were wed in Maine between 2000 and 2023 — and some 77% were girls wed to adult men an average of 3.7 years older.
Furthermore, child marriage creates a nightmarish legal trap that destroys nearly every aspect of an American girl’s life. There’s a reason the U.S. State Department has called marriage before 18 a “human rights abuse.”
Maine has now joined Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, Virginia and New Hampshire 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.
We still have 36 states to go. We promise to keep advocating for the 27 million girls who live in those states, if you promise to keep partnering with us. Please donate now.
Missouri is only one signature away from banning child marriage!
The Missouri state senate just passed the legislation we have been tirelessly promoting, to set the marriage age at 18, no exceptions. (Sen. Mike Moon, a vocal proponent of middle-school marriage, was the only “no” vote.)
The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk. Please take a minute now to urge Gov. Kehoe to sign the bill and ban a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
And while you’re at it, please also ask Maine Gov. Janet Mills to do the same for the bill that passed last week in her state.
More (rare) good news for girls: The Missouri House of Representatives yesterday passed the legislation we have been promoting, to set the marriage age at 18, no exceptions!
Now the senate needs to vote again — even though it previously approved banning child marriage with only one “no” vote (from Sen. Mike Moon, who loves him some child marriage) — because the version the house passed was part of a new omnibus child-protection bill.
Missouri is now closer than it has ever been to banning a human rights abuse that destroys girls lives.
Maine is just one signature away from becoming the 14th U.S. state to ban child marriage!
The state senate just passed the bill we have been promoting for years, to make the marriage age 18, no exceptions — and it now heads to Gov. Janet Mills’ desk for her approval.
Please take a minute right now to urge Gov. Mills to sign the bill and make all of New England a child-marriage-free zone.
Maine has been the last state in New England where child marriage remains legal, but thanks to our advocacy, that may change: The Maine House of Representatives just passed the bill we have been promoting to ban all marriage before age 18, no exceptions!
The bill now goes to the senate for a vote, bringing Maine one step closer to banning a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
It’s official: Child marriage is no longer legal in our nation’s capital, thanks to our advocacy!
Congress has enacted legislation Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced, we promoted relentlessly, and Mayor Muriel Bowser signed, to make the marriage age in Washington, D.C., 18, no exceptions.
So we are now 13 states, two territories and one district down in our push to ban an archaic, harmful practice that destroys girls’ lives and creates a nightmarish legal trap for them. That’s a big deal for the 9.5 million girls who live in those 13 states and D.C.
Alongside our allies in the Washington, D.C. Coalition to End Child Marriage that we co-convened with DC Rape Crisis Center, The Person Center and Tahirih Justice Center, as well as legislative champions like Councilmember Pinto, we met one-on-one with every member of the D.C. council. We testified at legislative hearings and submitted memos of support, and we recruited our allies to do the same. We compiled in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case and DLA Piper. We launched email campaigns to target council members.
And it worked!
You made this victory possible, too, if you took action on our email campaigns, shared our posts on social media or supported us financially.
Prior to passing this new legislation to ban child marriage, dangerous legal loopholes allowed a parent or guardian to enter a 16- or 17-year-old into marriage in D.C. with nothing more than a signature, without any input required from the child, and without any real legal recourse for a child who does not want to marry.
Our research found that some 110 minors were entered into marriage in D.C. between 2000 and 2023 — and two thirds of those were girls wed to adult men.
Furthermore, child marriage creates a nightmarish legal trap that destroys nearly every aspect of an American girl’s life. There’s a reason the U.S. State Department has called marriage before 18 a “human rights abuse.”
D.C. has now joined 13 states (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, Virginia and New Hampshire) and two territories (American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands) in embracing the simple, commonsense legislative solution we are pushing in all 50 U.S. states to ban child marriage, without exceptions. Such legislation harms no one, costs nothing and ends a human rights abuse.
Only 37 states and three territories to go. We promise to keep fighting for the more than 27 million girls who live in those states and territories, if you promise to keep partnering with us. Please donate now.
The Washington, D.C. Coalition to End Child Marriage includes:
Less than a decade ago, child marriage was legal in every U.S. state and territory.
But, as Chelsea Clinton pointed out this week at the event we cosponsored at the United Nations, our relentless advocacy has changed that.
“Thanks to the heroic and optimistic efforts of Fraidy [Reiss] and her team at Unchained At Last, at least now we can say we have banned child marriage in 13 states,” Chelsea told the more than 200 people who attended the event as part of Commission on the Status of Women.
Watch the full conversation here or by clicking the image below.
Sponsored by:
We have good news and some bad news as we continue our relentless advocacy to convince every U.S. state to ban child marriage, a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.
First, the good news:
The bad news:
Ending child marriage in the U.S. is not easy. But we promise that, with you as our ally, we will keep fighting until we achieve that goal. Because girls matter. Donate now.
P.S. Have you registered yet for our United Nations event with Chelsea Clinton next week?
As the United Nations launches the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women – the U.N.’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment – we at Unchained At Last are launching a hybrid side event alongside Sierra Leone and the Dominican Republic.
Join us and Chelsea Clinton, along with our global allies to talk about successes and setbacks in the global effort to ban child marriage and achieve gender equality by year 2030. Despite agreements like U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, much of the world still falls short in protecting girls from forced and child marriage. Ending these human rights abuses cannot wait another 30 years. We will feature experiences from countries which have made recent progress towards prohibiting child marriage under the laws as well as analyze contexts where countries are lagging behind or are debating proposals to erode women’s and girl’s rights.
No Child Left a Bride:
Successes & Setbacks in the Global Effort to End Child Marriage
A Hybrid Side Event
69th Session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women
19 March 2025
10:00-11:15 am ET | 7:00-8:15 am PT | 2:00-3:15 pm GMT
Featuring:
Sponsored by:
IN PERSON:
United Nations Conference Building, Economic and Social Council Chamber
405 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017
VIRTUALLY:
Via UN WebTV
About Commission on the Status of Women
Each year the U.N. hosts CSW, the U.N.’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, in New York City. Representatives of member states, U.N. entities and approved non-governmental organizations from around the world are invited to attend. The 69th session of CSW will take place 10 to 21 March 2025, on a hybrid basis, with a main focus on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly.
