California has set 18 as the minimum marriage age from January 2027.
Nearly 315,000 US minors married legally between 2000 and 2021, Unchained At Last found.
Child marriage remains legal in 32 states.
For years, California’s marriage laws left a door open that much of the state’s child-protection system had otherwise shut. On September 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill ending that exception, making 18 the minimum age for marriage and domestic partnerships in the state. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027.
A Legal Loophole Finally Closes
Assembly Bill 1267, authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, removes provisions that allowed a person under 18 to marry with a court order and parental or guardian consent.
California was previously one of only three states without a statutory minimum marriage age. The new law also removes the exceptions that permitted minors to enter marriages with adult approval.
The change closes a legal gap that campaigners have spent years trying to expose. California’s Commission on the Status of Women and Girls says about 35,000 minors, most of them girls, were married in the state between 2000 and 2021.
Nationally, Unchained At Last’s research found that nearly 315,000 minors were legally married across the US during the same period, with girls making up the overwhelming majority.
Among those who have made the issue personal is actor and model Courtney Stodden. Stodden was 16 when her parents allowed her to marry 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison.
She attended Newsom’s signing ceremony and has since become an advocate for ending child marriage. The governor’s office described her as a survivor of child marriage.
For survivors and campaigners, the problem is not simply the age written on a marriage certificate. Children remain legally dependent in ways adults are not, potentially making it harder for them to leave abusive relationships, seek legal help or access protective services.
California lawmakers and advocates have also argued that marriage should not create a legal shield for adults who sexually exploit minors.
A Patchwork Of Laws
California’s move, however, does not end the practice across the country. Unchained At Last, which tracks child-marriage laws state by state, says marriage involving someone under 18 remains legal in 32 states, although the rules vary.
Some states permit marriage at 16 or 17 with parental or judicial approval, while others have different exceptions or statutory gaps.
The movement to raise the marriage age accelerated after Delaware and New Jersey became the first states to enact blanket bans in 2018, according to Unchained At Last. Since then, several states and territories have followed in successive years.
The American map, therefore, remains a patchwork. California will join 17 other states that have completely banned child marriage without exceptions, according to Newsom’s office.
Once the law takes effect, Mississippi and New Mexico will be the only states whose statutes do not specify a minimum marriage age, according to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
