Child Marriage Could Be Banned in Another State

A law eliminating child marriage in Washington state is headed to the governor's desk for his signature.

House Bill 1455 was approved by state lawmakers in both the House and the Senate this session after the measure stalled in the Senate last year, while other bills failed to gain traction in previous years.

The House passed it unanimously on the first day of session this year. And on Friday, the Senate voted to pass the bill by 48-1. The lone no vote was cast by Republican Sen. Jeff Holy, of Spokane.

Currently, 17-year-olds in Washington state can marry with parental consent, and those younger than 17 need approval from a judge. The new law would establish 18 as the minimum marriage age, and if Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signs the bill as expected, the law would take effect in June.

Supporters say it will reduce forced marriage and domestic violence.

"Thankfully, HB 1455 enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support," State Rep. Monica Stonier, a Democrat from Vancouver who introduced the measure, said in a statement for Newsweek.

"Now, Washington will not be on the list of states that enable coercive, abusive, forced marriages of children to adults. I hope more will follow."

Child marriage was legal in every U.S. state, territory and district until 2018, according to the nonprofit Unchained At Last.

Since then, 10 other states have prohibited marriages for those under 18, including Minnesota, New York and Michigan.

Nearly 300,000 children, including some as young as 10, were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, the organization said. In most cases, girls were wed to adult men an average of four years older.

In Washington state, 5,048 children as young as 13 were married between 2000 and 2021, according to Unchained At Last.

"Child marriage creates a nightmarish legal trap that destroys nearly every aspect of an American girl's life," the organization said. "There's a reason the U.S. State Department has called marriage before 18 a 'human rights abuse.'"

A 2020 report by the International Center for Research on Women found that 18 out of 20 women taking part in a study on child marriages reported experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by their husbands during their marriage. Eleven reported financial abuse, including being forced to surrender earnings or having restricted access to financial resources.

The report also said that most participants also experienced reproductive coercion by their spouses, with fewer than half saying they could have used birth control if they wanted to.

Update 2/29/24, 4:05 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add a statement from Washington State Rep. Monica Stonier.