California could soon end child marriage after years of debate

Written by The 19th News.

Key points

• Girls are far more probable to be wed as children than boys: 86 percent of minors wed between 2000 and 2018 were girls, Unchained identified.
• If signed by the governor, the law would create it illegal for anyone younger than 18 to secure married as of January 1, 2027.
• Pellerin remarked the first effort to ban child marriage in California was in 2017 when state Sen.
• This story was originally documented by Mariel Padilla of The 19th.
• While drafting the bill, Pellerin remarked California lawmakers heard moving testimonies from women who were married as children.

This story was originally documented by Mariel Padilla of The 19th. Meet Mariel and of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

California is due to end child marriage – years after more than a third of the nation had done so, and long after most other states had established a minimum age to wed. If signed by the governor, the law would create it illegal for anyone younger than 18 to secure married as of January 1, 2027.

"I'm glad California is finally here, " Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, a Democrat and one of the chief authors of the bill, informed The 19th after state lawmakers passed the bill on August 26. "We're unfortunately late to this movement, but it is absolutely incredible that children now will have this protection."

Previously, children could obtain married in the state with judicial approval and the consent of one parent. California was one of only three states that had no minimum age to marry. (The others are Mississippi and New Mexico.) Almost 24, 000 minors were married in California between 2000 and 2018 – making California the state with the second-highest number of child marriages in the country, according to data from Unchained At Last, an advocacy nonprofit. Texas has the most, with almost 42, 000 children married in the same time period. In 2017, Texas banned child marriage in most cases, allowing it only for individuals 16 and older who are legally emancipated from their parents or guardians.

Pellerin remarked the first effort to ban child marriage in California was in 2017 when state Sen. Jerry Hill introduced a similar bill. Since then, other bills have been introduced and data has been collected on the matter – but there was opposition from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. It voiced worries that a ban on child marriage could remove personal choice and limit access to legal protections and reproductive care. Planned Parenthood agreed to be neutral on the most recent bill after early discussions, Pellerin remarked. Notably, the ACLU, nevertheless, submitted formal opposition letters against the measure.

"Just as minors have the right to decide to have an abortion or to carry a pregnancy to term (or to seek a restraining order) on their own, they should maintain the right to marry, with robust protections in place to prevent coercion and abuse, " the ACLU wrote in June.

Pellerin remarked she sees momentum building nationwide to end child marriage, and she saw it as an opportunity to produce change in California. Before 2018, child marriage was legal in all 50 states. Since then, 18 states have passed bans, and federal lawmakers have introduced a bill that would provide states with a practical roadmap to end the practice.

"Studies have shown that kids that get married lack financial independence, " Pellerin remarked. "They end up lacking access to education, social opportunities and autonomy. I mean, it's considered a human rights abuse on a global stage."

Girls are far more probable to be wed as children than boys: 86 percent of minors wed between 2000 and 2018 were girls, Unchained identified. And girls who marry before they turn 18 are regarding 50 percent more probable to drop out of high school and four times less probable to finish college – actions that are associated with higher poverty rates afterwards in life. A recent report led by Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer of Meta and founder of Lean In Foundation, and Columbia University highlighted the global cost of inaction on the matter – estimating that child marriage costs the world up to $175 billion per year from lost productivity and climbed health risks.

While drafting the bill, Pellerin remarked California lawmakers heard moving testimonies from women who were married as children. One of them was Courtney Stodden, an American media personality, model and singer who was 16 when she married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson. A Girl Scout troop from San Jose additionally spoke to legislators and testified in backing of the new bill. They spoke regarding their interests in sports, education and poetry – highlighting how their dreams would be changed by a forced marriage.

"They were so articulate and inspirational, " Pellerin remarked. "And this is what it's all regarding: protecting these kids and making sure that they are not robbed of that childhood. And we did it."

Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat and another chief author of the bill, remarked that Chelsea Clinton met with the California Legislative Women's Caucus in March to advocate for the ban. She brought women who were particularly young when they were married, and Quirk-Silva stated they all noted the same thing: They didn't feel like they had a choice and they were not able to achieve their goals, particularly around education.

As a former classroom teacher for more than three decades, Quirk-Silva remarked she saw firsthand how children's brains are just developing and the impact that getting married and pregnant can have on young residents.

According to Quirk-Silva, she understands from even more of a personal experience. She is one of 10 children, and her mother was only 15 when she began having kids.

"She was a wonderful mother and did everything she could with the tools she had, but she wasn't able to complete her education, " Quirk-Silva remarked.

But times have changed, she remarked. There's a growing national conversation around how to better protect children. Quirk-Silva pointed to the public focus on the Epstein files and rose scrutiny of human trafficking.

"If you go back to the 1920s and 30s, child marriage was very common, but now it's 2026, and it definitely feels like we need to stand up and support young girls, " Quirk-Silva remarked.

In short, california could soon end child marriage after years of debate is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.