On August 1, 2024, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced federal legislation (S. 4990) that, if passed, would undo the child marriage bans organizations like Zonta International, Unchained at Last and allies worked for nine years to pass in 13 U.S. states. Furthermore, the bill would make it nearly impossible to ban child marriage in the remaining 37 states. 

Ironically, Senator Durbin has been a longtime ally in the push to end child marriage in the United States. In fact, this bill entitled “Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2024,” acknowledges the issue’s historical statistics, prohibits child marriage on all federally funded land or property, and instructs the Attorney General to circulate a model state statute that prohibits child marriage. The legislation would require a report by the Government Accountability Office examining the extent to which non-citizens who were under the age of 18 at the time of marriage have been brought into the U.S. through U.S. citizen and LPR-sponsored spousal provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

However, there are detrimental problems with the bill, including:

• Section 6 states that the government would give money through grants to states that have NOT ended child marriage (in addition to ones who have) as a way to create a state-based task force to study child marriage and understand the repercussions of it. 
• Section 10 says that a 16- or 17-year-old from another country could be granted a spousal visa to the U.S. for a “compelling humanitarian reason.” This exception would impact efforts already made in states still allowing child marriage because it would send the message to state legislators that the federal government supports marriage at 16 or 17 in some situations. It would also allow USCIS and the State Department to approve spousal visa petitions which would undo all of the work in the 13 states who have already banned child marriage. 
• Finally, Section 10 would promote that girls in “terrible situations” (like war-torn countries) should be offered a lifeline escape that requires them to enter into a marriage contract and sexual relationship with an adult American man. Families could be attracted to this possibility to save their children.
   

Please use our pre-drafted letters to urge your senators to amend the Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2024 (S. 4990) bill in order to support it. If they have already sponsored or co-sponsored the bill, you can send a message.