California has officially outlawed marriage for anyone under 18, breaking with 32 states that advocates say have legal loopholes allowing minors to marry, which is likened to modern slavery and rape.
A state bill signed Wednesday prohibits a minor from entering a marriage or domestic partnership with no exceptions, including with a parent’s permission. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the legislation, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, “long overdue.”
“This is a long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors. Today, California kids are safer than ever before,” he said after signing the bill that, according to its sponsors, would have prevented approximately 35,000 minors, mostly girls, from marrying in the state between 2000 and 2021.
Boston Globe via Getty Images
The signage follows a near 10-year push to outlaw the practice, which those advocating for the bill say increases the risk of domestic violence, homelessness, financial dependency and barriers to education and legal protection.
With the law’s passage, just two states now have no minimum age for marriage, Mississippi and New Mexico, according to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, which co-sponsored the bill.
“When children are marrying adults, overwhelmingly girls marrying adult men, the imbalance of power is undeniable,” said Dr. Rita Gallardo Good, who serves as a chair for the commission.
Unchained at Last, a nonprofit that works to end child marriage in the U.S. and also co-sponsored the bill, similarly hailed the signage as “a bad day for child rapists.”
“The state’s marriage age laws create a legal workaround for statutory rape laws — providing get-out-of-jail-free cards for child rapists — and a workaround for human trafficking laws,” the organization said in a statement. It added that its focus remains on prohibiting underage marriage in the nation’s 32 remaining states, which have various rules that permit it, including parental or judicial approval.
The bill had its opponents, including ACLU California Action, which argued that marriage offers legal benefits and protections to young pregnant mothers and parents, including access to spousal benefits and full health care autonomy.
“A total marriage ban could also drive young people who are already in abusive relationships further underground, out of reach of social services,” the organization said.
Media personality Courtney Stodden, who has spoken out about her own mental health issues after marrying actor Doug Hutchison when she was 16 and he was 51, was among those advocating for the ban.
“I spent years wishing someone had protected the little girl i used to be. today, california protected the next one [sic],” she posted on Instagram with photos of herself posing with the governor after the bill’s signing.