FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2025
CONTACT: Lynn Tramonte ([email protected] / 202-255-0551)
Tahirih Justice Center calls on Texas legislature to “end this nightmare for children”
AUSTIN – Incredibly, in 2025, child marriage is still legal in most of the United States. That may change soon in Texas, depending on a vote scheduled in the state House of Representatives on Saturday, May 10, and later action in the Senate. “Passing H.B. 168 would be a huge step forward in ending child marriage — in many cases, an insidious form of child abuse — nationwide,” said Katharina Dechert, Tahirih Houston Policy and Advocacy Manager. “I’m proud of Texas for leading the way.”
H.B. 168, a bipartisan bill introduced by State Representative Jon Rosenthal, is scheduled for a vote in the Texas House of Representatives on Saturday, May 10.
According to a Tahirih Justice Center report, children who marry are 50% more likely to drop out of school; four times less likely to graduate from college; and 31% more likely to live a future life in poverty than their peers who wait until adulthood. Child spouses experience domestic violence at more than three times the national average. Eighty percent of these marriages end in divorce.
Earlier this year, laws to ban child marriage were enacted in Maine and the District of Columbia. Bans are under consideration in Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, and South Carolina. Tahirih’s Dechert testified in support of H.B. 168 before the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, Subcommittee on Family & Fiduciary Relationships in April.
Watch (starting around 18:15) and read Dechert’s testimony. Learn the state of play on laws to end child marriage across the United States in this Tahirih Justice Center backgrounder.
“Early marriage stunts children’s futures and growth for the rest of their lives. We applaud this bipartisan effort and call on the Texas legislature and governor to take this simple but powerful step to protect all of Texas’ children, today. Every person should have the right to decide — freely and for themselves, as adults — whether they want to get married, and to whom,” Dechert said.
MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about the status of child marriage bans across the states in this Tahirih Justice Center backgrounder. Follow the national campaign to end child and forced marriage at https://preventforcedmarriage.org/.
