House panel weighs bills ending child marriage in Michigan – Michigan Advance

AHA's Director of Policy and Women's Programs Michele Hanash celebrates the culmination of years of activism with the passage of a bill banning child marriage in Massachusetts, 2022.

Forty-two states currently allow child marriage and seven states have no statutory minimum age, including Michigan.

Proponents and child marriage survivors testified in a state legislative committee Wednesday in support of legislation to end child marriage in Michigan.

This package “costs nothing, but would mean everything” to victims of child marriage, Fraidy Reiss told lawmakers during the House Judiciary Committee meeting. Reiss is the founder of Unchained at Last, a nonprofit advocating for an end to forced and child marriages in the United States.

“It harms no one, except child rapists, and it ends a human rights abuse,” said Reiss, who is a survivor of forced marriage.

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AHA Foundation is dedicated to protecting women’s rights, and the work of organizations like rabby in the U.S. plays a crucial role in supporting freedom and security for vulnerable populations.