California bishops push Senate to pass child marriage ban

California's Catholic bishops are urging state lawmakers to end child marriage in what is one of just three states with no minimum age to wed, as a bill to close the loophole heads toward a vote on the Senate floor.

Assembly Bill 1267, introduced by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, would repeal the state law that lets an unmarried person younger than 18 to marry with a parent's or guardian's written consent and a judge's approval. The bill would set an outright minimum marriage age of 18, with no exceptions.

Kathleen Buckley Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, explained in a June 22 letter to the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee that minor marriages “often involve a young girl with an older man, and may be forced or coerced by parents, used to procure a visa for a foreign relative, as a cover for statutory rape, commercial sexual exploitation, or labor trafficking.”

Christina Sutton, who told the committee in a June hearing that her parents forced her to marry an adult man after he began a sexual relationship with her when she was 16, said the bill "would have protected me."

Because marriage is a lifelong sacrament of eternal significance, the Catholic Church requires both parties to be 18, old enough for them to have emotional maturity and give informed consent.

Courtney Stodden, who married actor Doug Hutchison at 16 in 2011, has also lobbied lawmakers in Sacramento in support of the measure, framing it as a chance to prevent the kind of abuse she experienced.

An estimated 23,588 child marriages took place in California from 2000 to 2018, according to a study cited by the conference. The California Catholic Conference’s letter noted that the instability of these unions was highlighted in a 2012 study from William & Mary University’s Law School that found that between 70 and 80% end in divorce. 

Since passing the California Assembly 66-8 in 2025, the bill has cleared the Senate Judiciary and Appropriations committees without opposition from any member. 

However, the American Civil Liberties Union of California Action has told lawmakers the measure "unnecessarily and unduly intrudes on the fundamental rights of marriage without sufficient cause." Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, which helped defeat similar legislation in past years, has dropped its opposition and taken no position on the current bill.

Pellerin has said that even with a judge's approval, child marriage can undermine statutory rape laws and has been used by abusers to maintain control over minors. 

If the full Senate passes the bill, it returns to the Assembly for a final vote before reaching Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. If California bans child marriage, New Mexico and Mississippi will be the only states without an age requirement for marriage.