California has enacted a ban on marriage for anyone under 18, ending a system that previously allowed minors to wed with parental approval and a judge's authorization. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the measure on October 1, calling it overdue protection for young people in the state. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027.
California becomes the 18th US state to impose an age floor of 18 since a national campaign against child marriage began gaining legislative success in 2018. The change is significant because the country's most populous state previously had no statutory minimum marriage age. Thirty-two states still allow marriage below 18 in at least some circumstances.
Newsom signed the bill alongside Courtney Stodden, who was 16 when her parents permitted her 2011 marriage to 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. Stodden has since campaigned for legal changes and described the California measure as a victory while pledging to continue seeking protections nationwide. Other survivors who supported the legislation said minors cannot meaningfully consent to arrangements that may leave them dependent on an adult spouse.
Advocates had argued that California's prior safeguards did not adequately protect children from coercion or abuse. A minor could marry when parents consented and a court approved the union, but campaigners said young spouses faced practical barriers to leaving. People under 18 did not have an equivalent independent route to divorce, creating a risk that a child could be legally bound to an adult while lacking the tools to end the marriage.
Unchained At Last, an organization campaigning against child marriage, estimates that roughly 9,000 girls were married each year in California and says almost all such marriages paired girls with adult men. The figure underscores the scale of a practice that advocates say many Americans do not realize remains legal across much of the country.
The campaign was also supported by survivors including Brittany Bee and Sara Tasneen. Bee said she married at 17 while trying to escape an abusive home, only to enter another allegedly abusive relationship. Tasneen said she was forced at 15 to marry a man nearly twice her age and began lobbying for reform in 2017. She became a mother at 16 and left school.
From 2027, California's rule will be straightforward: both parties must be adults. Supporters view that clarity as essential, removing exceptions that could place courts and parents in the position of authorizing a decision with lasting legal, educational and financial consequences for a child.
