California bans child marriage, a practice still legal in 32 US states

California has enacted a ban on child marriage, becoming the 18th state to prohibit the practice since 2018 while it remains legal in 32 other states. Stodden declared she would "keep warring until children are protected from matrimony successful each 50 states". She was joined to histrion Doug Hutchison - known for roles successful The Green Mile, A Time to Kill and I Am Sam - successful 2011, spurring headlines internationally implicit the contention and appearances connected respective world programmes successful the US, including the VH1 bid Couples Therapy. Other survivors of child marriage welcomed the new law. Brittany Bee, a former child bride, told the BBC, "California has sent a wide connection to the satellite today," Brittany Bee, a erstwhile kid bride, told the BBC. "A connection of anticipation for each children that they whitethorn beryllium escaped from systemic violence. That they whitethorn take their ain path." Bee said she was wed at the age of 17 to escape an abusive home, only to later allegedly be abused by her adult husband. "I was conscionable going from 1 situation to another," she explained. "People person the audacity to archer maine that I made a prime - kids, they can't consent." Bee and other child‑marriage survivors have campaigned for years to end the practice in California and across the United States. Approximately a decade ago, the state had no minimum age for marriage, allowing children to wed as long as parents consented and a judge signed off. There was also no legal mechanism for those under 18 to divorce, leaving many girls trapped in abusive and predatory relationships. Unchained At Last, the advocacy group fighting to end child marriage nationwide, reported that roughly 9,000 girls were married each year in California and that nearly all such unions involved girls wed to adult men. Advocates note that many people in the U.S. remain unaware that child marriage is still permissible in so many states, nor that it has led to allegations of abuse. Sara Tasneen, who says she was forced to marry a man about twice her age when she was 15, told the BBC that it felt "surreal" to see the state recognize that child marriage should be banned. She began lobbying for the change in 2017. "I was introduced to her husband the greeting of their arranged marriage." "I was forced to beryllium his woman and that day, my full beingness changed," she told the BBC. She became a parent at age 16 and left school. "To person seen the arc of this measure travel to fruition has been a marathon," Tasneen said. "I'm conscionable grateful that kids cannot get joined aft January 1, 2027 successful California."