Child marriage is a harmful practice and a profound manifestation of gender inequality. It is a human rights violation that legitimizes abuse and denies girls’ autonomy. It disproportionately affects girls and has wide-ranging consequences for their rights to education, to the highest attainable standard of health, including sexual and reproductive health, to protection from violence, and to freedom from sexual exploitation and abuse. Equality Now and our partners advocate that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18, no exceptions.
Child marriage occurs when one or both of the parties to the marriage are below the age of 18. Child marriage is currently legal in 35 states, and 4 U.S. states do not require any minimum age for marriage, with a parental or judicial waiver.*
Nearly 300,00 children were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018. The vast majority were girls wed to adult men.
Statutory rape occurs when one of the parties to sexual activity is below the age of consent. It does not have to be forcible, because a minor is not legally able to provide consent. In most states, child marriage is considered as a valid defense to statutory rape. The marital defense to statutory rape also used to be permitted under federal law in 18 U.S.C. Section 2243(c)(2).
While 18 U.S.C. 2243 was amended by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022 to eliminate this statutory rape defense, a similar defense still exists in the United States Military Code under 10 U.S.C. Section 920b.
The exception under 10 USC Section 920b, and similar exceptions under state laws, suggests that the US Government condones the practice of child marriage, giving sexual predators an incentive to force a child to marry them to evade criminal liability. The law can effectively turn child marriage into a “get out of jail free” card for predators. These laws must be repealed to align US laws with international standards and discourage child marriage and rape in the country.
*NOTE: The data on state laws outlined on this page is updated regularly and was accurate as of June 17, 2024.
