California has formally closed a legal loophole that allowed minors to wed, becoming the 18th state in the nation to prohibit marriage for anyone under the age of 18 without exception. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Bill AB 1267 into law on Sept. 30, a move that sets a firm minimum marriage age of 18 across the state and eliminates the previous framework under which minors could marry with parental consent and judicial approval.
The legislation was authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin and sponsored by Unchained at Last, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending child marriage, along with the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Its passage represents the culmination of a campaign that survivors of child marriage and advocacy groups have waged for nearly a decade in the state.
Before the new law took effect, California had no statutory minimum age for marriage. The state's legal code permitted minors to marry if they obtained permission from at least one parent and secured judicial approval. A parallel exception allowed minors to enter into domestic partnerships under similar conditions. The bill repealed both provisions, effectively raising the legal age for marriage and domestic partnerships to 18 with no carve-outs.
The signing ceremony brought the voices of survivors to the center of the public conversation, underscoring the personal stakes behind the legislative change. For years, activists had argued that California's permissive framework made the state an outlier, even as a growing number of other states moved to tighten their own laws.
California now joins 17 other states that have enacted similar bans without exceptions. However, child marriage remains legal in some form in 32 other states, where various restrictions, age floors, or parental consent provisions continue to apply. This patchwork of laws means that a minor's ability to marry still depends heavily on geography, a reality that advocates say leaves millions of young people vulnerable.
The new California law marks a significant milestone in the broader U.S. movement to end child marriage. Over the past several years, a wave of state-level advocacy has pushed legislatures to reconsider longstanding exceptions that allowed minors to marry under specific circumstances. These exceptions often included pregnancy, parental approval, or judicial authorization.
Advocacy groups like Unchained at Last have been at the forefront of these efforts, providing direct support to survivors while lobbying lawmakers to eliminate all exceptions. The organization has argued that child marriage is not a relic of the distant past but a continuing practice that affects thousands of young people in the United States each year.
The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls also played a key role in advancing the bill, framing the issue as one of gender equity and human rights. The commission and other supporters point out that girls are disproportionately affected by child marriage, often facing heightened risks of dropping out of school, experiencing domestic violence, and facing long-term economic disadvantage.
Proponents of the ban argue that parental consent and judicial approval are inadequate safeguards. In many cases, they say, minors are pressured into marriage by family members, and the judicial review process can be inconsistent or perfunctory. By removing all exceptions, California's law aims to provide a clear and uniform standard that protects all minors, regardless of their circumstances.
Opponents of such bans have sometimes raised concerns about religious freedom or parental rights, arguing that families should be allowed to make decisions about marriage for their children in certain situations. However, supporters of the California bill countered that the state has a compelling interest in protecting minors from the harms associated with early marriage, and that no cultural or religious tradition justifies allowing a child to enter into a legal contract as consequential as marriage.
The global outlook on child marriage remains a mixed picture. While the United States has seen a steady push to raise minimum marriage ages, the practice persists in many countries around the world. International organizations, including the United Nations, have identified child marriage as a human rights violation and have set targets to eliminate it by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In many developing nations, child marriage is driven by factors such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and cultural norms that prioritize early marriage for girls. Global health and development experts note that ending the practice requires not only legal reforms but also investments in education, economic empowerment, and community-based efforts to shift social attitudes.
The California law is likely to serve as a model for other states still weighing similar measures. Advocates hope that the momentum generated by California's action will encourage lawmakers in the remaining 32 states to revisit their own laws and close the exceptions that still permit minors to marry.
As the 18th state to enact a full ban, California adds substantial weight to the national movement. With its large population and outsized cultural influence, the state's decision could accelerate legislative efforts elsewhere, particularly in states where bills to end child marriage have stalled in previous sessions.
For survivors and advocates, the signing represents both a hard-won victory and a reminder of the work that remains. While California's law will protect minors within its borders, the absence of a federal minimum marriage age means that the patchwork of state laws will continue to determine whether children can legally marry depending on where they live, leaving the broader fight far from finished.
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