Gov Gavin Newsom called it a "long overdue measure to protect young Californians".

California has officially banned child marriage, with Governor Gavin Newsom signing legislation to end the practice that is still legal in 32 US states.

The new law, which will come into effect on 1 January, states people must be 18 to get married in the Golden State.

Newsom called it a “long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors”. He signed the bill into law with Courtney Stodden, whose parents allowed her to marry a 50-year-old Hollywood actor when she was just 16.

  • InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    1 month ago

    From Wikipedia:

    Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Oklahoma do not allow underage marriage. The other states allow an underage person to marry in the following circumstances:

    If one or more of the following apply:

    • consent of the parents or legal guardians of the >minor
    • consent of a court clerk or judge
    • if the minor is emancipated.

    Or in exceptional circumstances if one or more of the following circumstances apply:

    • consent of a superior court judge, rather than a local judge, is required
    • if one of the parties is pregnant
    • if the minor has given birth to a child

    Basically, in these places, there’s a loophole where offenders can marry their rape victims after the fact to make it look proper for the church or something. That and also allow parents or guardians to sell minors into arranged marriages.

    I wonder if anyone was dumb enough to oppose this ban and if so we should list them.

    • fipto@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 month ago

      https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/09/california-child-marriage/

      Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are pro-child marriage and they spend big to keep it legal.

      Children have a right to marry, the ACLU argues, and stripping them of that right would take away a pathway to their emancipation and independent healthcare decisions. For Planned Parenthood, the freedom for children to marry is about allowing people reproductive choice and bodily autonomy.

      But their efforts have repeatedly failed in California, where Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have lobbied hard against restricting child marriage, although those groups have largely stayed silent on the issue in other Democratic-controlled states.

      In a June opposition letter, the organization wrote, “Prohibiting minors from marrying in every case is a departure from California’s longstanding commitment to honoring minors’ ability to make important personal decisions for themselves, particularly in the realm of reproductive autonomy.”

      These two organizations are entirely misled and spreading misleading information on this issue and are harming kids (vast majority are young girls) with that rhetoric above. Emancipation and reproductive autonomy should not be tied to marriage in the first place.

      • Deconceptualist@leminal.space
        0·
        1 month ago

        That’s interesting. I almost always side with those two orgs so I’ll have to read more about why they take this position. The way you state it sounds pretty bad.

        I remember distinctly it was like to be a teenager and realize I was every bit as capable of making rational decisions as the adults around me, and frustrated that it wasn’t really recognized. That’s not to say it was true for my peers or didn’t require being well-informed in the first place. But as a result I’m generally in favor of lessening restrictions on minors where there’s no direct harm and raising penalties on adults who manipulate or abuse them. So I’ll hold out some hope that these orgs want that but are just communicating it poorly (still a problem, but more easily solved).