California has passed a law banning marriage for anyone under 18, becoming the 18th US state to adopt an outright prohibition on child marriage.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1267 on Wednesday, September 30, ending a lengthy campaign by survivors and child rights organisations.
The ban takes effect on January 1, 2027.
The legislation leaves 32 states without a complete ban on marriage under 18.
California’s change removes exceptions that previously allowed minors to marry with parental consent and judicial approval.
Minimum marriage age set at 18
The law, authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, establishes 18 as the minimum age for marriage without exceptions.
It also sets the same minimum age for entering a domestic partnership.
Before the change, California was one of three states without an absolute minimum marriage age, alongside Mississippi and New Mexico.
Although marriages involving minors required approval, campaigners argued that those safeguards did not adequately protect children from pressure by adults.
“Girls deserve to live their childhoods as children, not spouses,” Pellerin said in a statement welcoming the legislation.
She credited survivors who had repeatedly shared accounts of abuse and exploitation during the campaign.
Nearly a decade of campaigning
The signing follows almost 10 years of efforts to secure a complete ban in California.
The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and advocacy organisation Unchained At Last co-sponsored the legislation.
Unchained At Last executive director Fraidy Reiss said the organisation had spent nine years pressing lawmakers through lobbying and protests.
Campaigners argued that marriages involving children and adults created an unequal balance of power and could expose minors to coercion and exploitation.
Why earlier attempts faced resistance
Previous proposals encountered opposition from civil rights organisations concerned about restricting young people’s autonomy.
The American Civil Liberties Union argued that an outright ban could affect the self-determination of young parents and pointed to safeguards introduced under a 2018 law, including interviews by Family Court Services.
Supporters of the ban maintained that parental consent and court approval were insufficient protections against forced marriage.
Most US states have yet to adopt a complete ban
California joins 17 other states that have enacted laws prohibiting marriage before 18 without exceptions.
The distinction matters: a state may set a general marriage age while still allowing younger people to marry under specified circumstances. The 32-state figure refers to states that have not enacted a complete prohibition.
California’s ban has been signed into law but is not yet in force.
When it takes effect in January, Mississippi and New Mexico will remain the only states without an absolute minimum marriage age, according to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
