A new California law bans child marriage : NPR

Key Points:

• California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Bill AB 1267 on Sept. 30, establishing 18 as the minimum marriage age with no exceptions, making California the 18th U.S. state to ban child marriage outright.
• The new law ends previous provisions allowing minors to marry with parental consent or judicial approval and removes exceptions for domestic partnerships, reflecting a nearly decade-long advocacy campaign led by survivors and groups like Unchained at Last.
• At the federal level, the Child Marriage Prevention Act was introduced in July 2024 to set a nationwide minimum marriage age of 18, but some advocates criticize parts of the bill for potentially enabling child marriage through spousal visa provisions and state-level studies instead of outright bans.
• Globally, countries including Sierra Leone, Colombia, and Bolivia have recently enacted strict bans on child marriage with no exceptions, yet enforcement challenges persist in many regions, such as India, where cultural factors continue to drive early marriages despite legal prohibitions.
• Experts emphasize that legal reforms alone are insufficient; changing social attitudes, providing community support, and addressing gender norms are crucial to effectively ending child marriage both in the U.S. and worldwide by the U.N.'s 2030 target.