In some states, marriage automatically emancipates a minor or increases his or her legal rights beyond the minor`s permission to consent to certain medical treatments. [66] [67] Emancipated minors are theoretically considered adults, so in some states they can seek injunctions, divorce, and receive social benefits, although these laws are not universal. [68] In practice, however, these minors may still face difficulties, as many institutions do not deal with minors or require parental consent. In 2017, New York State raised the age of marriage to 18, but allowed marriage to 17 under special circumstances with parental and court approval. [100] Prior to this law, the state allowed marriage in certain cases from the age of 14. [100] This is consistent with the general principles of this common law interpretation, according to which individuals have rights and freedoms whose validity and existence precede constitutional law and statutes. However, modern legal systems rarely accept the validity of concepts such as common-law marriage or incorporate them into their laws. But did you know that only four U.S. states meet this standard and that the federal government has an exception for legal child rape? Equality Now works globally to end child, early and forced marriage by leveraging our legal expertise to support partners, individual cases and legislative efforts. The United States should be no exception. In May 2018, Delaware became the first state to completely ban child marriage. The age of marriage in Delaware is now 18, without exception.
[4] It was more common for immigrant children to be married than those born in the United States. Between fiscal years 2007 and 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Canada received 3.5 million immigration applications, resulting in 8,686 permits for married or engaged persons where one or both members of the couple were minors at the time of the petition. [41] The Koski/Heymann study found that the prevalence among children from Mexico, Central America and the Middle East was 2-4 times higher than among children born in the United States. [33] As of April 5, the bill was scheduled to continue its debate in the Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives. In 2017, Texas raised the age of marriage to 18; However, they retained an exception that allowed emancipated minors between the ages of 16 and 17 to marry. [34] As of January 2022, 41 states had legislated an absolute minimum age of marriage, which is between 14 and 18. In recent years, several states have raised the age of marriage, including Idaho, Indiana and Minnesota in 2020. [54] [55] [56] For more details on the age of marriage by state, see Age of marriage in the United States. According to researchers such as Camellia Burris and Anju Malhotra, there can be many effects that affect married minors. The most common include a higher risk of sexual misconduct or abuse, psychological trauma, the risk of death or injury at birth, and the likelihood of dropping out of school. [70] [71] “I`ve seen a reversal of the trend, and if there`s hostility, it`s against those people who believe marriage comes from God, not the government, and believe it`s between a man and a woman,” Leatherwood said.
Negative physical effects often accompany child marriage. The most common are complications of pregnancy and childbearing. [77] The body is not fully mature until the age of 18, so minors who become pregnant often face complications that are not as common in their older counterparts. As of Jan. 1, 2019, California requires parents and partners of minors who wish to marry to meet separately with court officials to determine whether coercion has occurred. In addition, minors must wait 30 days to marry, unless they are 17 years old and have graduated from high school or one of the partners is pregnant. However, there is still no minimum age for children to marry if these conditions are met. [86] Child marriage can lead to lifelong suffering.
Girls who marry before the age of 18 are less likely to stay in school and are more likely to be victims of domestic violence. State age of consent laws and age of marriage laws are incompatible with each other. In some states, it is possible for minors to marry legally, even if they have not reached the age of consent in that state. Between 2000 and 2015, at least 200,000 minors were legally married in the United States. 86% of these marriages took place between this minor and an adult. About 5% of minors were 15 years of age or younger, meaning they would not have reached the age of consent in all U.S. territories. [32] Cases of child marriage occur in all racial/ethnic populations, but are in some cases more common than others. Marriage cases were lower among non-Hispanic white children (5.0 per 1,000) than among almost all other racial or ethnic groups studied; It was particularly high among children of Native American or Chinese origin (10.3 and 14.2, respectively)[27] In addition, U.S.-born African-American girls are about 1.5 times more likely to marry minors than U.S.-born Caucasian girls.
[39] Hispanic/Latino girls are more likely than black or white girls to be underage marriage. [40] Legal rape occurs when one of the parties to the sexual activity is under the age of consent. It does not have to be violent because a minor is legally incapable of consenting. 18 U.S.C. Section 2243 (a) on sexual abuse of a minor applies when a person “knowingly engages in a sexual act with another person” between the ages of 12 and 16 and at least four years younger than the perpetrator. 18 U.S.C. Section 2243(c)(2) allows a defense against this crime if “the persons involved in the sexual act were married to each other at that time.” This means that child marriage is considered a valid defense against legal rape at the federal level. In June 2018, the New Jersey Child Marriage Prohibition Act was signed into law by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and immediately went into effect to introduce a clear minimum age of 18 without exception. This makes New Jersey the second state, after Delaware, to ban child marriage altogether. [98] Articles 105 and 106 set minimum age restrictions for anyone applying for a marriage license, as follows: “All this bill does is give an alternative form of marriage to pastors and others who have a conscientious objection to the current path of marriage in our law,” Leatherwood told colleagues as he debated the legislation. ABC partner WKRN reported.
In addition to sending an email to your members of Congress asking them to support a bill repealing 18 U.S.C. § 2243(c)(2) and educating their congressional colleagues on the issue of child marriage, you can call them for follow-up. In 2018, Alissa Koski and Jody Heymann, two researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, produced a study detailing the prevalence of child marriage in the United States and the common characteristics of these unions. The findings were published in their paper “Child Marriage in the United States: How Frequent is the Practice and Which Children Are Most at Risk?: Child Marriage in the United States”. They found that out of every 1,000 children interviewed, about 6 were married. [27] Prevalence varied by location, race or ethnicity, sex and age. Child marriage is harmful. It is a human rights violation that legitimizes abuses and denies girls` autonomy. When girls are forced into marriage, they are essentially exposed to state-sanctioned rape and risk increasing domestic violence, forced pregnancies, and negative health consequences while being denied education and economic opportunities. Equality Now and its partners have committed to setting the minimum age of marriage at 18, without exception.
Many of us in the legislature were stunned to learn that Connecticut does not have a minimum age for marriage. We like to think that forced child marriage does not happen in this country, but unfortunately it does not. Girls, in particular, may be forced to marry older men. This law protects our children by putting in place safeguards to ensure that no minor marries against their will. Young adolescent girls are more likely to die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s, and their children are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life.