On July 1, a new law took effect in Virginia, permitting only people aged 18 and older to marry. Additionally, 16 and 17 year olds emancipated by court order may marry. Supporters claim that the law will reduce human trafficking and abuse previously disguised as marriage.
Prior to the enactment of this law, children in Virginia aged 16 could get married with parental consent or judicial approval, and younger girls that became pregnant could be married with parental consent or judicial approval regardless of their age. According to the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-governmental organization dedicated to providing legal, social, and medical services to women fleeing abuse, almost “4,500 children” and “over 200 children...age 15 or younger” were married in Virginia from 2004 to 2013. Most of these marriages were between young girls and adult men.
Virginia State Senator Jill Vogel, who sponsored the bill, cited the case of a man in his 50s who, after child protective services began investigating him, married a high school student he was suspected of raping. Now, he is unable to be prosecuted and his likely crime will go unpunished. I imagine that the student’s parents stand behind their consent to the marriage, but as observers, it is easy for us to see that in this and many cases underage marriage is the result of parental force and is not desired by the young spouse.
Jeanne Smoot, a senior counsel at Tahirih, states that insular communities contribute to forced marriages. When “there are great stakes to oppose community norms,” children (primarily girls) are more likely to be married against their will. Often they are threatened with violence or death to earn their compliance at the clerk’s office. Families may believe it is more proper for a pregnant teen to be married to her abuser than have a child out of wedlock.
However, girls in forced marriages face reduced access to education and health services, and a higher risk of domestic violence. Fraidy Reiss, the executive director of Unchained at Last, a non-profit organization helping women leave forced marriages, states, “The younger you are when you get married, the absolute more likely you are to get divorced. And when you get married at a really young age and get divorced, you’re much more likely to end up living in poverty.” If the dangers of child marriage are so definitive, why do we let it persist?
In many of the United States, the minimum age for marriage is 16 with parental consent. In some, it is even younger in the case of pregnancy, and in others still there is no minimum age for marriage with parental consent and judicial approval. Virginia’s new law is a step in the right direction. A bill currently in committee in the New York State legislature would make the minimum age for marriage in that state 18 without exception; a bill seeking the same outcome exists in New Jersey. According to research by Tahirih and Unchained at Last, 3,853 children were married in New York between 2000 and 2010.
The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act allows applicants aged 16 and 17 to obtain a marriage license with parental consent or judicial approval. While some of these unions feature mutual consent, I am confident that many do not. We need to convince our state legislators to introduce and pass legislation akin to that in Virginia--we need a law that protects our youth. Child marriage is real, dangerous, and abundant in the United States today. It is not limited to any one religion or far away “vulgar” culture. It is a problem here at home that we the people are responsible for resolving.
