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NEW YORK (Gray News) – New York is fighting against child marriage by raising the age of consent to 18.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed law Thursday banning any marriage in which either party is under the age of 18.
This law will make New York the sixth state to prohibit child marriage in the United States.
“Children should be allowed to live their childhood, and I thank the many lawmakers and attorneys who have worked diligently to advance this measure and further prevent forced marriages in this state,” Cuomo said in a press release.
We fought hard to end child marriage successfully, and today I am proud to sign a law raising the minimum age for marriage to 18 in NYS.
Children should be able to be children. I thank the many lawmakers and attorneys who made this law possible. https://t.co/VM0ChVE4kh
– Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 22, 2021
A recent study by Unchained At Last, an organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage, shows that “between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States.”
“The cruel and callous practice of child marriage has traumatized too many children to count,” MP Phil Ramos said in a statement.
According to the study, almost all girls were 16 or 17 years old and married men an average of four years older, but some girls were only 10 years old.
Unchained At Last explains that there is almost nothing a girl under 18 can do to escape a forced marriage. Usually, she cannot leave home, enter domestic violence shelter, or file for divorce – and she stays stuck.
“Regardless of their level of maturity, minors lack the legal rights and autonomy they need to protect them when they enter into a prenuptial agreement before they grow up,” Senator Julia Salazar said in a statement.
Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island and New York all enacted laws to end all marriages 18 years ago, according to the report.
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