Massachusetts Passes Ban On Child Marriage

BOSTON — On Tuesday, during a budget debate, Massachusetts representatives voted 155-0 to outlaw child marriage in the Bay State.

Current law allows anyone under the age of 18 to get married with parental consent, but lawmakers say that people who get married while younger than 18 cannot access the legal and social services they would need to potentially file for divorce.

Massachusetts also did not have a law specifying the minimum age at which a person can marry with a parent's consent.

This historic vote makes Massachusetts the seventh state to pass such a ban. New York recently joined Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Delaware to become just the sixth state to ban marriage for those under the age of 18.

Between 2000 to 2016, more than 1,200 children under the age of 18 were married in Massachusetts - and almost all were girls marrying adult men.

Research on the impacts of child marriage shows it is deeply harmful putting girls at risk of negative health problems, interrupted education, poverty, and domestic violence: and it can easily be forced on or coerced by parents.

In 2020, a bill prohibiting marriage before age 18 unanimously passed in the state Senate but was still being considered by the state House of Representatives. "Since then, at least 14 petitions for child marriage were filed in courts around the commonwealth," state Rep. Kay Khan said.

In addition to the vote, representatives added about $27.26 million in new spending toward public safety and the court system to the House's 2023 fiscal year budget plan.

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