BY RYA JETHA | CalMatters
They stood on the steps of the state Capitol, in white bridal gowns and veils, their wrists chained together and their mouths taped shut.
They are survivors of forced and child marriages — and they want California to finally outlaw child brides.
“When I was 14 years old, my parents coerced me into marrying the 27-year-old pedophile who had been abusing me for two years because I became pregnant and it brought “shame” to the family,” said Pat Abatemarco, who said she eventually escaped the marriage, with her daughter, with the help of a social worker.
Thursday, she and others shared their stories of enduring gender-based violence, being forced to abandon their education, and becoming estranged from their families during the “chain-in” protest organized by Unchained At Last, a national advocacy nonprofit, to launch a campaign for the law.
“We are here in gowns and chains to demand an end to a human rights abuse and nightmarish legal trap that gives get-out-of-jail-free cards to child rapists,” said Fraidy Reiss, a forced marriage survivor who founded Unchained At Last. “What better way to urge legislators to take action than to show them what life looks like for those who are forced into marriage?”
In California, you must be 18 to get a divorce. But there is no minimum age to get married, as long as a parent or guardian consent and a court gives permission. California is among just seven states, including New Mexico and Oklahoma, that does not have a minimum age for marriage.
Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, an Irvine Democrat, plans to introduce legislation next year to end child marriage.
“We like to think that here in California…we are ahead of the curve,” she said. “But when it comes to child marriage, we aren’t leading, we aren’t even following. We are failing.”
A false start
In 2017, California was on track to be the first state to pass an absolute ban on marriages for those younger…
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