Does banning a human rights abuse 鈥� one that overwhelmingly harms girls 鈥� take away a girl鈥檚 鈥渞ight鈥� to be abused?
That is what some groups want us to believe as they oppose legislation to ban child marriage in Colorado. These are not groups of pedophiles or men鈥檚 rights advocates; they are progressive groups that usually stand up for girls, but have taken a shocking position in support of an archaic, harmful practice. We believe this results from a lack of understanding, nothing else.
My name is Fraidy Reiss, and I am a forced-marriage survivor turned activist. Co-authoring this piece with me is Chelsea Clinton, who, through the Clinton Foundation, has joined my efforts to stand up for girls and prevent the abuse of minors.
Currently, a dangerous legal loophole allows juvenile courts in Colorado to enter 16- or 17-year-olds into marriage, before the age of adulthood. Thousands of minors have been married off in Colorado in recent years under this loophole, almost all of them girls wed to adult men, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The suffering of these girls is profound.
The loophole creates a workaround for statutory rape laws: Sex with a 16-year-old is felony sexual assault if the perpetrator is 10 or more years older 鈥� unless the perpetrator marries the teen. From 2000 to 2021, between 90 and 120 would be child rapists were granted a get-out-of-jail-free card in this way, according to an , the nonprofit Reiss leads to end forced and child marriage in the U.S. In 2023, there were 17 minors married under Colorado’s most recent laws.
Even the most mature 17-year-old can easily be forced into marriage because of their limited legal rights as minors: They may not leave home to escape parents who are planning an unwanted wedding for them. Colorado law ties teens to their parents unless they can get emancipated by the court. Advocates like those at Unchained At Last who want to help must first notify the teen鈥檚 parents. Domestic violence shelters routinely turn away unaccompanied minors, and youth-shelter stays are limited to three weeks.
The judicial review process for child marriage does not protect teens from forced marriage. Terrified teens are expected to explain their predicament to the court and risk dire punishment at home.
Marriage before age 18 is recognized as a human rights abuse worldwide, including by the U.S. State Department, because of its catastrophic harms to girls鈥� health, education and economic opportunities, and the violation of girls’ sexual and reproductive rights. Colorado鈥檚 laws also legalize the trafficking of minors under the guise of marriage; they allow 16- and 17-year-old girls to be dragged overseas and forced to marry men who are eager for a spousal visa, and they allow men in Colorado to import child brides as young as 16.
One would expect progressive groups that care about girls to do what such groups in nearly every other U.S. state 鈥� including the 16 that recently banned child marriage 鈥� have done: support making the marriage age 18, no exceptions.
Instead, when state Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, and other legislators introduced , to do just that, some progressive groups submitted a memo of opposition. At a committee hearing on Feb. 17, a member of a progressive group was the sole person testifying in opposition, before a slew of survivors, advocates and experts testified in support.
The committee approved the bill, but SB-48 now appears stalled because of this opposition.
Banning child marriage does not 鈥渢ake away a right鈥� from girls any more than banning child rape takes away a child鈥檚 right to be raped. Underage girls never had a 鈥渞ight to marry.鈥� The United Nations committees that promote gender equality and child rights consider all marriage before age 18 to be聽forced, since minors lack the rights needed to give full, free consent.
Nor would banning child marriage undermine reproductive rights. The Colorado Constitution guarantees those rights, and the U.S. Supreme Court has noted that legislators must treat minors鈥� abortion differently from minors鈥� marriage, because the former is time sensitive while the latter is not. A girl cannot wait until 18 to get an abortion; she can wait until 18 to get married.
No girl should be forced into parenthood, and no girl should be forced into marriage.
Tell Colorado lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 48 and ban child marriage.
Fraidy Reiss is a forced marriage survivor turned advocate. She is founder/executive director of Unchained At Last, a nonprofit working to end forced and child marriage in the U.S. through direct services and systems change 鈥� including by leading the national movement to ban child marriage. Chelsea Clinton is vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and a bestselling author.
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