'Message of hope': California becomes 18th US state to ban child marriage

California has officially banned child marriage after Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage and domestic partnerships in the state.Assembly Bill 1267, authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin of Santa Cruz, repeals provisions that previously allowed minors to marry with parental consent and court approval. The law will come into effect on January 1, 2027.

California ends exceptions for minors

Newsom signed the legislation on Wednesday alongside media personality and child marriage survivor Courtney Stodden, who was allowed by her parents to marry actor Doug Hutchison when she was 16 and he was 51.“This is a long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors. Today, California kids are safer than ever before,” Newsom said, according to NBC Los Angeles.The legislation was sponsored by Unchained at Last and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. California had previously been among the US states without a statutory minimum marriage age.Under the earlier law, minors could marry if they had parental consent and court approval.

The law also provided no mechanism for people under 18 to obtain a divorce.

Survivors welcome new law

Stodden, who has campaigned against child marriage, described the legislation as a “victory” and said she would continue campaigning until children were protected from marriage across all 50 states.“Governor Newsom's action today made clear to me and to survivors of child marriage everywhere that we should never have been expected to carry this burden,” Stodden said, according to NBC Los Angeles.She also spoke about feelings of guilt associated with her experience.“Today really taught me something. It taught me that what happened to me and to these other girls was wrong. And I was never the problem,” Stodden told NBC Los Angeles.Other survivors also welcomed the legislation. Brittany Bee, who told the BBC she was married at 17 after trying to escape an abusive home, said, “California has sent a clear message to the world today.

A message of hope for all children that they may be free from systemic violence. That they may choose their own path.”

How common was child marriage in California?

Global Hope 365 said around 35,000 marriages involving minors took place in California between 2000 and 2021, with most involving an underage girl and an adult man, according to NBC Los Angeles.Advocacy group Unchained At Last estimated that about 9,000 girls were married each year in California and said almost all child marriages involved girls marrying adult men.Rima Nashashibi, founder and president of Global Hope 365 and founder of the California Coalition to End Child Marriage, said survivors had been central to the campaign for a ban.“The heart of this effort has always been the survivors,” Pellerin said. “They told us what it means to be a child in a marriage you did not freely choose.”

California becomes 18th US state to ban child marriage

California is the 18th US state to completely ban child marriage since 2018. The practice remains legal in 32 states, although some have set minimum ages below 18 under specific conditions.Mississippi and New Mexico do not have a statutory minimum age, while other states permit marriage below 18 in certain circumstances.Stodden said she now wanted to focus on Nevada, where she was married at 16. “After I got married in Nevada, they upped it to 17, but that's not good enough for me,” she said.The new California law will take effect on January 1, 2027, after which people must be at least 18 to marry in the state.