Over 200,000 minors were married in the United States between 2000 and 2015, though data is lacking from some states. Most child marriages involve minor girls marrying adult men, with some cases of girls as young as 10 years old. While the legal age of marriage is 18 in most countries, U.S. law allows all states to set exceptions permitting marriage under the age of 18, such as with parental or judicial consent or in cases of pregnancy. Reforms are slowly being implemented to restrict child marriage, but laws still vary widely by state.

1. CHILD MARRIAGE IN THE U.S
Clarissa Schooley

2. WHAT IS CHILD MARRIAGE?
HOW MANY CHILD MARRIAGES DO YOU THINK
HAVE HAPPENED BETWEEN 2000-2015 IN THE US?

3. WHO,
WHEN,
WHERE?
• At least 207,459 minors married between 2000 and
2015– doesn’t include Arizona, California, D.C, Georgia,
Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island
who don’t even track this data
• To put that in perspective, that’s about 13 Loyolas
• Most child marriages are between a minor girl and adult
man– the youngest married within these years is 12, the
youngest on record is 10
• Child marriage is legal in 48 states– Delaware and New
Jersey are exceptions
• Every state has exceptions that allow minors (under
18) to marry, including:
• Consent by court clerk or judge
• Parental consent
• Pregnancy
• Emancipated minor

4. CURRENT STATISTICS
18 states have no minimum age
2 states have a minimum age of 14
5 states have a minimum age of 15
19 states have a minimum age of 16
6 states have a minimum age of 17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erRrF8YWGd4

5. IMPACT
• Higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases
• Death from childbirth
• Psychological damage
• Domestic violence
• Ruined opportunity for education and
career

6. ROOT
CAUSES
Of child marriage:
• Largely a rural and poor phenomenon
• Religion
• Deep seated history
Why is this still a problem?
• Ignorance
• Unwillingness of politicians to update/change laws
• Minors can’t sign legal documents such as divorce
papers
• Organizations often can’t get minors out of their
situation because it’s considering kidnapping

7. RESPONSE
Only recently has the issue been
brought to light, largely thanks to
people like Fraidy Reiss and Sherry
Johnson
• Legislation is starting to change, and
child marriage is decreasing slowly
• 2017-- NewYork banned marriage
under 17 and only if they received
judicial approval,Texas banned minors
marrying except those who are
emancipated
• March 2018-- Delaware banned child
marriage completely, Florida banned
marriage for anyone under 17,
Kentucky banned marriage under 16
and requires parental consent and
judicial approval for 16 and up
• April 2018– Arizona banned marriage
under 16, and requires parental
consent before 18
• October 2018– New Jersey banned
child marriage completely
Still not perfect, but it’s a step

8. WORKS CITED
• https://www.watchdog.org/national/analysis-child-marriage-is-legal-in-u-s-
states/article_fbefbf04-5d0e-11e8-b6e6-cb9d5643bc13.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/feb/06/it-put-an-end-to-my-
childhood-the-hidden-scandal-of-us-child-marriage
• http://www.unchainedatlast.org/
• http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/05/24/child-marriage-united-states
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t283ui2NPio
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erRrF8YWGd4
• http://apps.frontline.org/child-marriage-by-the-numbers/