Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed legislation Thursday raising the marriage eligibility age in the Green Mountain State to 18.
With Scott’s signature, Vermont became the eighth state in the United States to ban child marriage, according to a report.
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The law goes into effect on July 1.
It replaces the existing practice, which authorizes the consent of 16- and 17-year-old Vermonters if they have the consent of at least one parent, the report noted.
Supporters of the legislation maintain it will help mitigate unwanted pregnancies and lower the rate of domestic violence while improving the lives of Vermont’s youth.
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Roughly 300,000 people under the age of 18 were married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, according to a New Jersey-based lobbying group cited in the report.
The majority of those marriages were between girls and grown men, and 80% of the 289 children married in Vermont between 2000 and 2021 were girls being married to adult men, the report noted.
