Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the U.S.

Child marriage, or marriage before 18, was legal in all 50 U.S. states as of 2017. Thanks to Unchained’s relentless advocacy, that is changing. Delaware and New Jersey in 2018 became the first two states to end this human-rights abuse, followed by American Samoa in 2018, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania and Minnesota in 2020 and Rhode Island and New York in 2021.

However, child marriage remains legal in 44 states and is happening in the U.S. at an alarming rate: Unchained’s groundbreaking research revealed that nearly 300,000 children as young as 10 were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 – mostly girls wed to adult men.

Are you part of the movement to end child marriage in the U.S.? Take action.

 

CHILD MARRIAGE LEGISLATION: PROGRESS MAP

YOUNGEST MARRIAGE AGE ALLOWED