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Growing Movement to Ban Child Marriages Spreads to New York

New York state moved to end child marriages on Tuesday, raising the legal age to 18 from 14 to tackle the issue of underage marriage that is permissible across the United States.

New York state moved to end child marriages on Tuesday, raising the legal age to 18 from 14 to tackle the issue of underage marriage that is permissible across the United States.

 

Previously children as young as 14 could get married with parental permission and consent of a judge in the state that stretches from New York City north to Canada and west to the Great Lakes.

 

The new law, signed by the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, still allows for marriage at the age of 17 with parental and judicial permission.

 

In the United States, some 170,000 children were wed between 2000 and 2010 in 38 of the 50 states where data was available, according to anti-child marriage group Unchained at Last.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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