Republican argue allowing child marriages predominately girls marrying adult men, reduces abortion.
More states ban child marriage, though it’s still legal in most of the US
A high-profile Ohio child abuse case has renewed attention on state laws that permit some teens to marry.
BY
-AUGUST 6, 2026 2:51 PM
After
last month who had been confined to a single room in a home in rural Ohio, attention turned to their mother, who had been 15 and pregnant when she married their father.
The child endangerment case has recharged a national conversation around child marriage, which is defined by the United Nations as any marriage involving someone under age 18.
Earlier this year two Ohio state senators — one Democrat, one Republican —
that would require Ohio residents to be at least 18 to get married. Current state law allows 17-year-olds to marry with court approval. The bill passed out of a Senate committee in June but didn’t get a full Senate vote before lawmakers adjourned for the summer.
Until the last decade, marriage under age 18 was legal in all 50 states. In
, Delaware and New Jersey became the first states to outright ban it. More states followed: Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, Virginia, New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., Maine, Oregon, Missouri and most recently, Oklahoma, have banned it since 2020.
In May, Oklahoma passed a Republican-sponsored
that removed all exceptions for a person under 18 to marry.
“Oklahoma children must be able to grow up free from coercion and exploitation, and it is our duty to guarantee those protections are enacted and enforced,” said Oklahoma state Sen. Warren Hamilton, a Republican who sponsored the bill, in a May
.
Hamilton said the law protects minors from forced marriage and helps prevent child trafficking and exploitation, ensuring “that no minor, even those who are close to adulthood, is placed in a marriage that puts their safety or well-being at risk.”
In 33 states, marriage under 18 is still allowed with varying restrictions, such as
parental consent or court approval for marriage involving someone aged 15-17. Only three states — California, Mississippi and New Mexico — do not specify a minimum age for marriage.
As of 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, Nevada, Idaho and Utah had
according to a 2025 study by Unchained At Last, a nonprofit that advocates for the end of child marriage. Nevada’s rate — 6 per 1,000 minors — was nearly twice that of Idaho and Utah. Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island had the lowest rates, at less than 0.2 per 1,000 minors. The U.S
was more than 2 per 1,000 girls and 0.31 per 1,000 boys.
Between 2000 and 2021,
under age 18 were legally wed, according to the group.
were girls wed to adult men.
Advocates for ending child marriage point to research that has found
for those involved, including greater vulnerability to sexual and domestic violence, worse health outcomes, higher likelihood of dropping out of high school, greater risk of poverty and higher divorce rates.
A 2022 study from researchers at McGill University found that the proportion of child marriages that
varied across states from 1% to more than 50%.
Oklahoma’s bipartisan bill sailed through the Senate earlier this year but encountered fierce opposition in the House,
.
Some Republican lawmakers
that the measure amounted to government overreach and would increase the number of babies born out of wedlock. One Oklahoma Republican lawmaker who opposed the bill
it would take away parents’ rights to give permission for a teen to marry.
Republican lawmakers in states including
have made similar arguments. One Missouri Republican legislator said he believed banning child marriage would result in more abortions,
the Missouri Independent.
Oklahoma Democratic state Rep. Michelle McCane told her colleagues earlier this year that she gave birth at 15 and that her life would have been far different if her mother had let her marry the person she “picked in eighth grade.” She pointed out that married minors can’t legally seek a divorce or stay at a domestic violence shelter.