State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian joins House of Representatives in Voting to Ban Child Marriage
May 16, 2022 - As part of the Fiscal Year 2023 House Budget debate, Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D-Melrose) joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to unanimously pass legislation to end the practice of child marriage under the age of 18 which is considered a human rights abuse by the U.S. State Department.
“I am proud to have voted to end child marriage in Massachusetts, including as a cosponsor of the initial bill proposing this policy shift,” said Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian. “I applaud the many advocates, including the Zonta Club of Malden, for their ongoing efforts to enact this legislation. Research shows that child marriage puts minors, and especially young girls, at risk of negative health problems, interrupted education, poverty, and domestic violence. There is no place for that in our Commonwealth.”
The bill was originally filed by Representatives Kay Khan (D-Newton) and Paul Donato (D- Medford) during the 192nd Session as H.1709 then filed as a budget amendment by House Minority Leader, Representative Brad Jones (R-North Reading).
Under the leadership of Speaker Ron Mariano, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, and House Judiciary Chair Michael Day, Massachusetts would join the list of states taking a stance to ban the marriage of children. Most recently on June 2, 2021, Rhode Island and New York passed legislation to remove statutory language that allowed for minors to enter marriages with parental consent, joining New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota as the only states in the country that have completely banned child marriage.
As minors, married children face many obstacles when they try to leave or resist such a marriage. Likewise, married minors are subject to a unique power dynamic stemming from a legal predicament in which their parental guardians and spouses have more legal freedom as adults.1,246 children as young as 14 were married in Massachusetts between 2000 and 2018 and 89.9 percent (1,107) of them were girls wed to adult men. In 2020 alone, 14 petitions were filed for the marriage of minors to adults in the Commonwealth.
If signed into law, the legislation will close the loophole in Massachusetts allowing for child marriage with parental and judicial consent and will empower children in the Commonwealth.