Child Marriage: Prevention and Legal Changes
A house committee must act next: committee consideration.
While the topic is sensitive, it involves changes to immigration law and federal spending, which often face delays or opposition in a divided Congress.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
The Department of Justice must draft a model state law that lets a person married as a minor void the marriage but blocks the adult spouse from doing so. If states adopt this model, it becomes harder for adults who married minors, some of whom may have otherwise used marriage as a defense to statutory rape charges, to escape accountability or dissolve the marriage on their own terms.
“restricts any party who was an adult at the time of marriage to a person younger than the age of majority from voiding such a marriage”
Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
The legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Gwen Moore and Raja Krishnamoorthi and Sens. Dick Durbin, Kirsten Gillibrand and Brian Schatz, aims to curb child marriage by incentivizing states to raise the minimum age to 18 and closing immigration loopholes that allow for the exploitation of minors.
The bill would establish a National Commission to Combat Child Marriage, incentivize states to ban the practice through increased VAWA grant funding, and require both parties in a marriage-based visa petition to be at least 18 years old.
Bicameral legislation introduced by Rep. Gwen Moore and Sen. Dick Durbin takes steps to end child marriage in America by supporting state-level bans and prohibiting the practice on federal property. The bill also seeks to study the prevalence and harmful impacts of child marriage via a new commission.
No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2026
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