On Thursday, New York became the sixth state in the nation to outlaw minor-to-adult weddings, which disproportionately entail girls marrying older males.
State Governor Cuomo Signed the Bill Into Law
In a recently published article in The Washington Post, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) signed a measure into law that raises the age of consent to marry in New York from 16 to 18. In a statement, he claimed the law would better safeguard vulnerable children from exploitation. He also explained that children should be given the opportunity to experience their childhood.
Cuomo signed the legislation in 2017 that aimed to "end child marriage in New York" by changing the state's age of consent to marry from 14 to 18. However, it enabled 17-year-old teens to marry with parental and court permission, which opponents condemned as a loophole that permitted parents to compel children to marry.
"Regardless of maturity level, children lack adequate legal rights and autonomy that they need to defend themselves if they sign a marriage contract before becoming adults," said the bill's author, state Sen. Julia Salazar, as per The Frontier Post.
States that Ban Minors from Getting Married
The Democratic governor of Rhode Island approved laws prohibiting minors from marrying last month. Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, as well as the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa, have passed similar legislation.
In the remaining 46 states, the legality of child marriages varies greatly. Although the minimum age for marriage consent in Wyoming is 16, a kid of any age may be married with parental and court permission. The minimum age in Virginia is 18 years old, with an exemption for children who have been legally emancipated.
According to a study published in the Unchained At Last, a nonprofit that advocates against child marriage in the United States, it was found out that nearly 5,000 children were married in New York between 2000 and 2018. Meanwhile, during that time, over 300,000 minors were legally married throughout the country.
The research found that 86 percent of those surveyed were females, with the majority of them married to adult men. According to the research, the average age gap for females marrying was four years. The study also found out that child weddings have dropped considerably since the turn of the century, with at least 76,396 youngsters married in 2000. The number was 2,493 in 2018.
Why Girls Get Married Before 18 Years Old?
In a recently published article in Free News Today, child weddings often include forced marriage and may offer legal protection for what would otherwise be statutory rape.
According to the United Nations, girls who marry before the age of 18 are more likely to be victims of domestic violence and are less likely to stay in school. The UN has designated child marriage as a "human rights violation" and has made ending the practice by 2030 as one of its sustainable development goals.
A published article on the website of UNICEF revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic creates a significant impact on the physical and emotional health of girls, as well as their schooling and the economic situations of their families and communities. These drastic changes only exacerbate the danger of child marriage, and the pandemic will put up to 10 million additional girls at risk of becoming child brides over the next decade.
