Story at a glance About 300,000 children and teens were legally married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, according to data from Unchained at Last, a nonprofit that works t…
About 300,000 children and teens were legally married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, according to data from Unchained at Last, a nonprofit that works to help women and girls in forced marriages.
Laws prohibiting minors to marry have struggled to pass. Only 10 states have a law prohibiting people under 18 from marrying.
Pushback to setting 18 as a minimum age for marriage comes from both conservative and progressive groups.
Earlier this year, for instance, a bill that would have prohibited minors from getting married in West Virginia was rejected by Republicans in the state Senate. Some opponents of the bill argued that teen marriage was part of West Virginia’s culture.