MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont House has passed a bill that would raise the marriage age to 18, with no exceptions, a move that supporters say would reduce domestic violence and unwanted pregnancies and improve the lives of teens.
If signed into law Vermont would join seven other states, mostly in the Northeast, that do not allow marriage before the age of 18, according to the nonprofit organization Unchained at Last.
“It’s a chance to really make children’s lives better at the outset,” said Rep. Carole Ode, a Democrat, and the lead sponsor of the legislation, called the Act to Ban Child Marriage.
The bill passed Thursday. In order to become law, the bill would have to pass in the Senate and be signed by Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
Under existing law, Vermonters aged 16 and 17 can get married with the consent of one parent and the child doesn’t have to consent themselves, according to Ode.
The New Jersey-based group Unchained at Last has been lobbying to end child marriage across the country, calling it a “human rights abuse.” The West Virginia State House passed a similar bill on Wednesday.
The group says between 2000 and 2018 nearly 300,000 children were married in the U.S., and most of the marriages were between girls and adult men. In Vermont, 289 children under the age of 18 were married between 2000 and 2021 and 80% of them were girls married to adult men, according to the organization.
Supporters of raising the marriage age say it will not only help to prevent domestic abuse and unwanted pregnancies but also allow teens to finish high school and improve their economic opportunities.
Opponents say it’s unfair to teens who become pregnant to not allow them to marry.
Two previous child marriage bills have died in the Vermont Legislature in recent years.