Skyler was 16 years old when her mother and stepfather marched her into a courthouse in Maryland and forced her to marry a 34-year-old man she’d met only once.
She had tried to object—throwing a fit and locking herself in her room. But her abusive parents wanted her out of the house.
“I was praying to myself, Please let someone stop this. Let someone call the police. He’s a grown adult, isn’t this obvious?” Skyler* recalls of her courthouse wedding in 2009.
After her mother signed the papers in front of a court clerk, Skyler found herself married at age 16.
Forced marriages of underage girls like Skyler are possible only because of marriage laws that human rights groups have been pushing to change. Most states permit 16- and 17-year-olds to marry in some cases, and more than two dozen states set no minimum age at all (see map).
Now, several states are considering changes. New Jersey passed a bill in March that prohibits all marriages under age 18; at press time, it awaited Governor Chris Christie’s signature. And California, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas are considering similar bills. New Hampshire recently debated raising the marriage age from 13 but rejected the idea.