California Bans Child Marriage Entirely as Newsom Signs AB 1267
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1267 on September 30, setting the minimum legal age for marriage and domestic partnerships at 18 with no exceptions. The new law takes effect January 1, 2027, making California the 18th state to ban child marriage entirely and closing a long-standing loophole — California had been one of only three states with no statutory minimum marriage age, where minors could marry at any age with parental consent and a judge's approval.
The bill was authored by Santa Cruz Democratic Assemblymember Gail Pellerin and passed without a single dissenting vote after years of advocacy by groups including Unchained at Last and the California Commission on the Status of Women. At the signing ceremony, media personality Courtney Stodden stood beside Newsom — she was married at 16 to 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison with her parents' consent and has described that relationship as abusive and predatory; she is now a nationally known anti-child-marriage advocate. Sarah Tasneem, 45, of El Sobrante, also witnessed the signing: forced to marry a man nearly twice her age at 15, she has driven to Sacramento countless times over nine years to tell lawmakers her story. "Honestly, this is so surreal," she said through tears after the governor signed. "This is a moment won by years of struggle by all survivors."
Data show about 35,000 marriages involving minors took place in California between 2000 and 2021, the vast majority underage girls marrying adult men. "This is a long-overdue measure to protect California's young people; California's children are safer today than ever before," Newsom said in a statement. The law has one more side effect: the "spousal exemption" in California's statutory rape law will no longer apply to any marriage involving a minor. (Compiled from multiple reports; rewritten by GSM)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Frank Schulenburg，CC BY-SA 4.0，Wikimedia Commons
