California Bans Child Marriage, but 32 US States Still Allow It

> In the state, there had been no legal age to wed, allowing children to get married as long as their parents consent and a judge signs off on the nuptials.

> There was also no mechanism for people under 18 to get divorced and many girls say they were trapped in abusive and predatory relationships.

Call me misguided, but I don't necessarily see 16 year old and 20 year getting married as equally problematic as the provided examples of 30+ year age gaps.

I think the real issue people are dancing around right now culturally is that these extreme age gap relationships are beginning to make everyone feel very uncomfortable. The difference between a 17 year old and and 18 year old doesn't make them feel less gross and exploitative.

FWIW the situation in the UK, that the BBC doesn’t mention, is similarly muddy.

In England and Wales, since 2022, the minimum age is 18. Previously it was 16 with parental consent, which is the situation in (the rather more religious) Northern Ireland.

In Scotland the age is 16 and parental consent is not required.

So, well into the 20th century young English couples would flee across the border and get married there; most famously at Gretna Green, a town just inside the border.

Scottish marriages involving English/Welsh people under 18 are now not legal.

You can’t enter into other contracts until 18 so why was marriage an exception?

how does that protect 18yr olds from being forced into marriage? a 16yr old can not consent but an 18yr old can? i was hardly any smarter at 18 than i was at 16. in my opinion the problem is not the consent or lack thereof, or the age, the problem is the inability legally or maturity wise, to say "no".

with the right culture and support there is nothing wrong with getting married early.

the problem comes from arranged marriages, especially if there is a large age difference.

instead of setting a minimum age, which does not help much, it should be easier to refuse, and even if agreed, it should be possible for anyone under say 25 to simply have a marriage annulled or a divorce if there are obvious problems (such as the age difference).

but if both are young, then marrying young has its benefits. the younger we are the more adaptable we are, and that helps to build a relationship and makes it easier to get along.

the idea that we should be fully matured adults before getting married doesn't actually work, because living together is part of the process of maturing, and the older you are the more difficult is it to develop certain skills and attitudes that you need for a successful marriage.

in china, people get married much earlier than in the west, but they also have strong family and social support for doing so.

The specific age will always be controversial because laws require specificity but social norms are varied. (Quantum levels vs continuous functions.)

In some societies it's okay to marry 6-year-old girls.

Slightly more rational societies link it to puberty in the female. Indeed, their leaders have written entire books to justify such behaviour.

still legal in 32 states, and Scotland and Northern Ireland, BBC

Non paywalled article

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/09/child-marriage-ban-n...