A Newsweek map shows the 17 states where child marriage is illegal, as advocates urge state lawmakers to ban the practice in California.

Child marriage remains legal in 33 states, including in California, which currently has no minimum age for marriage. It is defined as a marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18, which the United Nations calls a human rights violation and a form of forced marriage since at least one or both parties have not given their full, free and informed consent.

Assembly Bill 1267 would end child marriage in California by raising the minimum age to marry to 18 with no exceptions.

The bill, which was introduced last year, was approved by the Assembly in a 66-8 vote. In June, it unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee but is awaiting action on the Senate floor.

The Secular Student Alliance, a nonprofit student organization, announced on Monday that its members would lobby state lawmakers to pass the legislation this week.

"No child in California should be entered into a marriage before they are old enough to vote, sign a contract, or file for divorce," Kevin Bolling, executive director of the Secular Student Alliance, said in a statement provided to Newsweek.

Bolling said the bill "is a commonsense, evidence-based reform, and our students are proud to stand with the broad coalition urging the Legislature to pass it. Public policy should be grounded in the well-being of young people, and this bill does exactly that."

What Would Assembly Bill 1267 Do?

Current California law allows a minor of any age to marry as long as they have obtained a court order and the written consent of at least one parent or guardian of each minor wanting to marry.

Assembly Bill 1267, authored by Assembly members Diane Dixon, a Republican, and Democrats Gail Pellerin, Cottie Petrie-Norris and Sharon Quirk Silva, would establish the minimum age to marry as 18, eliminating the exceptions that currently allow minors to marry.

Why It Matters

Before 2018, child marriage was legal in all 50 states. But since then, 17 states have ended it by raising the legal age of marriage to 18, according to Unchained at Last, an organization working to end child marriage in the United States.

The organization says nearly 315,000 children, some as young as 10, were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2021, mostly girls married to adult men. During that period, about 34,875 children were married in California, according to Unchained at Last.

Where Has Child Marriage Been Banned?

Oklahoma this year became the 17th state to ban child marriage. The state legislature approved a law that raises the minimum age for marriage to 18 with no exceptions. It will go into effect on November 1.

Delaware and New Jersey were the first U.S. states to ban child marriage in 2018, followed by Pennsylvania and Minnesota in 2020, and Rhode Island and New York in 2021. Massachusetts banned child marriage in 2022, and Vermont, Connecticut and Michigan followed suit in 2023.

Washington, Virginia and New Hampshire banned child marriage in 2024, with Maine, Oregon and Missouri doing so in 2025.

The Fight To End Child Marriage

According to Unchained At Last, child marriage must end in the U.S. for several reasons. The organization says child marriage can easily be forced marriage; destroys children’s lives, undermines statutory rape laws and can also be a form of human trafficking.

The organization has warned that child marriage will continue until every state raises the age to marry to 18. Newsweek has previously reported on how minors have long been taken across state lines to be wed in states where child marriage laws are more lax.

"When one state ends child marriage, often you'll see in a neighboring state that still allows it, or even a few states over, you'll see those numbers increase," Fraidy Reiss, the founder and executive director of Unchained At Last, previously told Newsweek.

"You have to pass simple, common-sense legislation that costs nothing, harms no one, to end a human rights abuse that destroys girls' lives and creates a nightmarish legal trap for minors."

Courtney Stodden, a former child bride who married at 16, is among those advocating for the bill.

Dissenting Voices

Nevertheless, some lawmakers have expressed concerns about the bill. State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that “one of the challenges that I’ve had in this conversation is that we do grant the ability for certain ages under 18 to make very significant decisions, and so I find it interesting that at 17, I can have a child, but I cannot willingly marry the father of that child. Even if he is 17 as well.”

Despite such reservations, Weber Pierson voted to advance the bill.

Prior efforts to ban child marriage in California have failed amid opposition from civil rights groups including ACLU California Action and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

ACLU California Action has expressed opposition to Assembly Bill 1267, arguing that the legislation is premature because the state is still in the process of collecting and analyzing data on marriages involving minors.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Tony Phillips.