California bans child marriage and shatters a shield for predators

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit ·

Governor Newsom signed a ban on child marriage, exposing the thirty-two states where statutory rape still hides behind parental consent and archaic laws.

The paper shield for predators

Survivors walked the halls for nine years. In 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to ban child marriage. Assemblymember Gail Pellerin authored the bill. It sets the minimum age for marriage at eighteen.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the law repeals old provisions. It removes the loophole for domestic partnerships. Newsom called this a long overdue measure to protect minors.

California was one of three states with no minimum marriage age. Courtney Stodden joined the governor for the signing. She married Doug Hutchison when she was sixteen.

This Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison marriage illustrates the predatory nature of the practice. Brittany Bee told the BBC she married at seventeen to escape abuse. She felt she went from one prison to another.

Sara Tasneem was fifteen when her father introduced her to an older man. She was raped and married six months later. Tasneem spent years lobbying to change laws that protected her abusers.

Institutional power stood in the way of decency for years. The American Civil Liberties Union opposed bans. They argued marriage is a fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Planned Parenthood also initially opposed the absolute ban. The state chose patriarchal tradition over the safety of the vulnerable.

Legal child marriages in the United States

Legal child marriages in the United States share a mechanism. State laws create a legal shield for statutory rape. They allow systemic violence under the guise of consent.

A marriage license acts as a get-out-of-jail-free card for adults. Fraidy Reiss noted that marital exemptions shield spouses from prosecution. She found that ninety percent of child marriages involve acts that would otherwise be sex crimes.

The numbers are staggering. Data shows more than 314,000 minors were legally married. Unchained at Last estimates at least 66,415 marriages involved sex crimes.

Minors face legal barriers to filing for divorce or hiring an attorney. They cannot sign a lease or leave home without being returned to abusers. This is state-sanctioned human trafficking.

California is the eighteenth state to prohibit child marriage without exception. Thirty-two other states still permit the practice. Mississippi and New Mexico have no statutory minimum age.

Missouri Republican state Rep. Dean Van Schoiack called a ban a government intrusion. Missouri finally banned child marriage in 2025. State-level inertia continues to protect abusers.

The global reckoning we refuse to join

The United States stands alone among wealthy nations. The United Nations defines child marriage as a human rights violation. UNICEF estimates twelve million girls become child brides every year.

Sierra Leone passed Sierra Leone's Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024. It penalizes facilitators. The United States has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Casey Carter Swegman, director of public policy at the Tahirih Justice Center, noted the hypocrisy. Officials in Cameroon and Guatemala point to our laws as an excuse. We cannot lecture the world while men in thirty-two states groom children.

Federal legislation is stalled by the same forces. Senators Dick Durbin and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the Child Marriage Prevention Act. Fraidy Reiss criticized provisions that study child marriage instead of banning it.

Spousal visa rules could still allow minors as young as sixteen to be trafficked. Politicians serve the interests of those who profit from subjugation.

California proved the wall of silence can be torn down. Remaining states choose to protect abusers over children. We must ban child marriage in all fifty states.

Close every spousal visa loophole now. Strip away the legal shields that let predators hide behind the altar.

Sources

  1. NPR: A new California law bans child marriage. What's the global outlook on the practice?
  2. BBC: California bans child marriage, a practice still legal in 32 US states
  3. CalMatters: California bans child marriage after 9-year fight to outlaw the practice
  4. gov.ca.gov: Governor Newsom signs bill to ban child marriage
  5. San Francisco Chronicle: California bans child marriage, even with parental permission
  6. BBC: California bans child marriage, a practice still legal in 32 US states