New York State Raises Age of Legal Consent to 18, Bans Child Marriage

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday signed a bill that raises the age of consent to marriage to 18 – effectively banning child marriage.

The bill, called Nalia’s Law, is named after a survivor who was forced into marriage at the age of 13. New York raised the age of consent from 14 to 17 with parental or judicial consent in 2017.

“This administration has fought to successfully end child marriage in New York City and I am proud to sign this legislation to strengthen our laws and further protect vulnerable children from exploitation,” said Cuomo, a Democrat, in a press release. “Children should be allowed to live their childhoods and I thank the many lawmakers and advocates who have worked diligently to advance this measure and further prevent forced marriages in this state.”

Child marriage occurs in America through various legal loopholes and exceptions at the state level, where marriage licenses are issued, according to experts. Unchained At Last, a national advocacy group that advocates for an end to child marriage and has lobbied for the New York bill, said five other states have passed similar laws banning all marriages before the age of 18 years old: Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

According to the Tahirih Justice Center, an advocacy group for people fleeing violence, a majority of states allow 16- and 17-year-olds to marry, a few allow 14-year-olds and about a dozen do not. minimum age for marriage. But even as more states act to end child marriage, concerns about the government’s overbreadth, as well as little data on the extent of the problem, have sparked skepticism about the reform. in the red and blue states.

Nearly 300,000 minors – people under the age of 18 – were legally married in the United States from 2000 to 2018, according to an April study by Unchained At Last. Many were barely 10 years old; almost all were 16 or 17 years old, according to the study. Most were young girls married to adult men an average of four years older.

The New York bill will fine anyone who issues a marriage license to an ineligible person and charge the issuer with a misdemeanor, according to the bill. The law, which comes into force 30 days after it comes into force, will apply to permits issued after that date and to marriages that had not been celebrated before that date.

State Representative Phil Ramos, a Democratic sponsor of the legislation, said the bill “would prevent stories like Nalia’s from repeating themselves.”

State Senator Julia Salazar, another Democratic godmother, said in a statement that child marriage had “devastating consequences” on the life trajectory of young girls and that the bill would protect them.

“Regardless of their level of maturity, minors do not have the sufficient legal rights and autonomy they need to protect them if they enter into a marriage contract before they become adults,” she said. .