State Representative Kay Khan began her quest to ban child marriages (i.e., marriages of people under the age of eighteen) nearly six years ago when she learned that children — 89.9% girls, some as young as fourteen — could be married in Massachusetts with only the consent of their parents and a judge. Between 2000 and 2018, more than 1,000 such “marriages” occurred in Massachusetts, but under Massachusetts law, although married, they were still minors so:
- They could not file for divorce or access other legal remedies to end their marriages;
- They could not receive services from the Department of Children and Families;
- They could not seek protection in domestic violence shelters because they were underage and considered “runaways”; and
- As minors, they could not access legal assistance from attorneys.
Often, underage girls “were living in difficult circumstances and their parents agreed to marriage as a way of providing some financial security for their daughters,” Rep. Khan explained. As an example of the situations leading to child marriage, Rep. Khan and her colleagues heard from a woman who was in foster care when she was fifteen, whose mother willingly allowed an adult male to marry her. This child bride subsequently bore nine children and endured a painful relationship until she managed to escape to Pennsylvania. In searching for people engaged in providing assistance to girls in her situation, she discovered that Massachusetts State Senator Harriet Chandler was working to end child marriage. Rep. Khan then became aware of the issue and joined forces with Senator Chandler to end child marriage in Massachusetts.
While child brides are school-age, Rep. Khan said, “schools do not do a great job of oversight when people do not show up. Schools offer no oversight or follow-up services when young girls disappear from their classes because they have been pressured to marriage.” Since marriage was legal in Massachusetts at age sixteen with parental consent and judicial approval, there was little real protection for children, although the U.S. State Department considers child marriage a human rights abuse.
Fraidy Reiss, founder of Unchained at Last — an organization dedicated to helping victims of forced child marriage — worked to legalize the bans in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island and, now, Massachusetts. She said, “When we don’t have champions like Rep. Khan and Sen. Chandler, we can’t change laws.” In states with child marriage bans, parents may take their children to states without legal protections and arrange their marriages. Massachusetts’ new law allows underage married children to obtain legal assistance in ending the marriage.
When Rhode Island and New York became the fifth and sixth states to close the child marriage loophole, Rep. Khan called on her legislative colleagues to follow suit. House Speaker Ron Mariano joined her and their House colleagues Paul Donato, House Judiciary Chair Michael Day, and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz in leading the way to a unanimous vote of the House to end child marriage in Massachusetts. House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, a strong proponent of banning child marriages, filed an amendment to the 2023 budget that won bi-partisan support and ended child marriage in the Commonwealth. On July 25, Governor Baker signed the budget, including this provision, into law.
