California Outlaws Child Marriage as Newsom Signs Bill Backed by Survivors

California has become the latest US state to prohibit child marriage, after Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring anyone tying the knot in the state to be at least 18 years old. The new law is set to take effect on 1 January, closing a legal loophole that had allowed minors to wed with parental consent and judicial approval. The move leaves 32 US states where the practice remains legal in some form.

Newsom described the signing as a "long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors," framing the change as a long-delayed step toward safeguarding children from relationships that advocates say are frequently coercive and abusive. The governor was joined at the signing by Courtney Stodden, whose highly publicised marriage as a teenager helped draw national attention to the issue. Stodden was 16 when her parents permitted her to marry Hollywood actor Doug Hutchison, then 50, in 2011.

Stodden, who has since become a prominent campaigner against child marriage, welcomed the reform as a "victory" and argued that those who survived such unions should never have been forced to bear the responsibility of changing the law themselves. She pledged to continue pressing for change, saying she would "keep fighting until children are protected from marriage in all 50 states." Her marriage to Hutchison, known for roles in films including The Green Mile, A Time to Kill and I Am Sam, generated international headlines and led to appearances on several US reality programmes, among them the VH1 series Couples Therapy.

Other survivors also welcomed the new law. Brittany Bee, a former child bride, told the BBC that California had sent "a clear message to the world today," describing it as "a message of hope for all children that they may be free from systemic violence" and able to "choose their own path." Bee recounted being married at 17 in an attempt to escape an abusive home, only to allege that she was then abused by her adult husband. "I was just going from one prison to another," she said, adding that people who claim she made a choice fail to understand that children cannot legally consent.

Bee is among a group of survivors who have spent years lobbying for bans on child marriage in California and elsewhere in the United States. Their efforts reflect a broader shift in American law: roughly a decade ago, the practice was permitted in every state. Since 2018, however, a growing number of legislatures have moved to restrict it, and California is now the 18th state to enact a ban.

Until the new law, California had no minimum age for marriage. Children could wed provided their parents consented and a judge approved the union. There was also no mechanism allowing anyone under 18 to obtain a divorce, a gap that advocates say left many girls trapped in abusive and predatory relationships with no realistic route out. The absence of both a floor on age and a path to separation created what campaigners describe as a legal trap for some of the state's most vulnerable young people.

The advocacy group Unchained At Last, which campaigns to end child marriage across the US, estimates that about 9,000 girls were married each year in California, and that nearly all child marriages in the state involved girls wed to adult men. Advocates note that many Americans are unaware child marriage remains legal in so many states, or that it has been linked to allegations of abuse.

Sara Tasneen, who says she was forced to marry a man nearly twice her age when she was 15, told the BBC it felt "surreal" to see the state finally recognise that child marriage should be banned. She began lobbying for the change herself in 2017. She said she was introduced to her husband on the morning of their arranged marriage. "I was forced to be his wife and that day, my entire life changed," she said. She became a mother the following year, at 16, and dropped out of school.

Tasneen described the legislative effort as "a marathon," adding: "I'm just grateful that kids cannot get married after January 1, 2027 in California." The extended timeline means the prohibition will not apply immediately, leaving a window before the minimum age of 18 takes full effect.

The reform places California alongside a growing bloc of states that have tightened their marriage laws over the past several years. Supporters argue that minimum-age requirements are a basic child-protection measure, given the power imbalances, educational disruption and barriers to escape that typically accompany marriages involving minors. Opponents of such bans have historically cited parental rights and religious tradition, though the momentum has shifted markedly since 2018.

For survivors and campaigners, the California signing represents both a hard-won milestone and an incomplete victory. With 32 states still permitting marriage below 18 in certain circumstances, advocates say the patchwork of laws across the country leaves millions of children exposed to the same risks they have described. Stodden's vow to keep fighting in all 50 states signals that the national campaign is far from over, even as California prepares to close its own loophole.