Did you know that California has no minimum age to marry and that in the past, bills to end child marriage have died?

It's hard to believe that child marriage--often, girls married off to adult men--could happen in deep blue California. But, sadly, it does, and more frequently than we'd like to think.

It's estimated that 23,588 children were married in California between 2000 and 2018--and those are just the cases that we know about. Once married, these underaged girls do not qualify for many legal protections, due to their limited legal capacity as minors. Many domestic violence shelters won't even take in girls fleeing child marriages if they are not accompanied by a parent...who is usually the one who married off their daughter in the first place!

Thankfully, we have an opportunity to end this form of child abuse by helping California become the 13th U.S. state to ban child marriage. Sign the petition to the California state assembly and Governor Gavin Newsom urging them to pass Assembly Bill 2924 prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 to marry in the state--without exceptions.

We will deliver your signature and let state legislators know that we will have their backs every step of the way as they fight to pass this important bill into law!