New report calls for end to child marriage in the US
13 comments
·November 24, 2025delichon
c22
That's an account of the background of the founder of the organization the piece is about.
Instead of anecdote, they provide statistics about child marriage, one line earlier:
“At least 60,000 marriages since 2000 have occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have constituted statutory rape under the law.”
delichon
It isn't obvious to me that the age of consent should be identical in all contexts, so this doesn't seem alarming on its face. It depends on the particulars. That's where a good anecdote can help, but this one doesn't. I don't need to be convinced that consent is always necessary for a valid marriage.
c22
No doubt! The rest of the article provides other statistics and apparently there's a report they're getting this from. Sibling comments have also already begun to provide more context. The internet is truly an amazing place, but especially HN here. I appreciate the effort that goes into everyone's commentary!
Edit: The comment this is responding to has been edited so context has been lost, but I'm letting this one stand as is.
defrost
There's more detail and multiple anecdotes elsewhere, eg:
It’s estimated that, each year, 12 million girls around the world are married before they turn 18. The perception that child marriage is something that happens to other kids in other places – not the United States – is a false one.
Between 2000 and 2021, nearly 315,000 children were legally entered into marriage across the U.S. The vast majority were girls wed to adult men.
Mandy’s mother encouraged her to become affectionate with the man from their church in Arizona who was showing an interest in Mandy.
He was aged 18. Mandy was 12.
His grooming and abuse continued for years, fully sanctioned by Mandy’s mother, who spoke of God’s plan. He proposed to her four years later, and she tried to say no. After exhausting every possible way to escape what her parents were forcing her to do, she ran away, but as a minor, she had no power. Her parents were able to force her back home and into marriage.
Mandy was married a week after her 17th birthday to her 23-year-old longtime rapist and abuser.
She was trapped in a marriage marked by relentless emotional, physical, verbal and financial abuse.
When Mandy finally escaped as an adult, at age 20, she was excommunicated from her church. She lost all her family and friends. She was left to rebuild her life on her own.
delichon
I've known other 17 year olds who were ready to start a family, and for whom waiting a year would mean bringing one less cherished person into the world. Which scenario is more common? Where should we draw the line? This is almost entirely subjective, and it's hard to fault a jurisdiction for inconsistency.
cypherg
big issue in appalachia / red states were republican lawmakers have tried to thwart laws restricting the practice
dragonwriter
Oddly enough, its also an issue in California, which is one of four states with no minimum age for marriage (despite an 18 year minimum age for divorce.)
And, even more bizarrely, when there was a recent push to abolish it, it was resisted by, among others, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood branches on California (despite the same organizations national and relevant state organizations not opposing moves to ban child marriage in other states.)
valleyjo
If you’re not trusted to drink you shouldn’t be trusted to get married.
dragonwriter
IIRC, most child (under 18, at least; 18-21 is a problem with the trusted to drink standard) marriage laws in the US agree that the child can’t be trusted on this, so they trust the child’s parents.
(This is very much not an endorsement of those laws or that approach.)
rayiner
Or vote.
null
> In 1995, Fraidy Reiss was forced into a marriage by her Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. Reiss was just 19 at the time.
The essay includes exactly one anecdote of child marriage ... which isn't child marriage by its own definition. If age 18 isn't old enough for consent, what is? Forced marriage isn't legal anywhere in the US.