Rep. Klarides-Ditria, advocates call to make 18 the legal age to marry in CT

State Rep.Nicole Klarides-Ditria was joined by Lt. Governor Bysiewicz, fellow legislators, advocates and victims during a press conference to garner support for legislation that will end the practice of underage marriage in Connecticut. Current law allows 16 and 17-year-olds to wed with both parental and court permission.

Rep. Klarides-Ditria feels so strongly about ending this abhorrent practice that she cosponsored House Bill 6569: An Act Concerning the Minimum Age to be Eligible to Marry – which will set 18-years-old as the minimum age to marry  in Connecticut.

“Connecticut prides itself on being a progressive state, but we still maintain child marriage as one distinctive difference from our neighbors that keeps us in the dark ages of sexism and abuse, and which must be abolished,” Rep Klarides-Ditria said. “Several years ago, the legislature raised the legal age of marriage to 16-years-old and now is the time to do even more to protect children.”

In written testimony to the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Klarides-Ditria noted that according to data from the Connecticut Department of Public Health, 1,246 minors, some as young as 14, were married in our state between 2000 and 2020, including 24 minors that were married between October 2017 and December 2020.  Stating that child marriage is a harmful practice, the United States took a vow, along with 193 other countries who are in agreement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, to eliminate child marriage by 2030. New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are forward-thinking enough to know that child marriage has no place in our modern society.

“If we continue to keep our heads in the sand with this issue, we run the risk of being dubbed the ‘Child Marriage State’ and even worse, we run the risk of committing atrocious, irreversible damage that will impact every facet of these young people’s lives. Join me in doing what is right for the young women and men of this state and lead by example to accomplish the goals set out in the Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” Rep. Klarides-Ditria said.

The bill is currently before the Judiciary Committee and awaits further action.