New Hampshire becomes the 13th state to outlaw child marriage! But what about the rest of the US?
New Hampshire’s Governor recently signed a new law raising the legal age of marriage in the state to 18. A cause for celebration amongst anti-child marriage organizations and lawmakers who have been advocating on the issue for the last 10 years according to News from New Hampshire. But while children in New Hampshire along with 12 other states are now protected from forced marriage, many other states still provide a haven for those who seek child marriage.
“It opens up a door to human trafficking”
Unchained at Last is a national advocacy organization and one of Freedom United’s partners in lobbying for an end to child marriage across the US. In the lead up to the recent legislative change in New Hampshire the organization reviewed the state’s marriage certificate data and found that, since 2000, more than 200 minors were married in New Hampshire. In celebrating the law’s passage, one of the law’s supporters, Rep. Cassandra Levesque, underlined the link between child marriage and trafficking.
“There are so many problems when it comes to child marriage, it opens up a door to human trafficking. It allows rapists to marry their victims. It allows for girls to basically not get to become the full potential that they can be.”