Advocacy good news update
That as of July 1, 2022, the Massachusetts Law regarding minimum age for marriage was amended to forbid anyone under the age of 18 to marry, with no exceptions. Working with numerous Massachusetts legislators including our own Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier, the Berkshire Zonta club and our sister Zontas club throughout the state lobbied hard and long to change this law. The state of Massachusetts will now protect children from being forced or coerced into a legally binding contract that strips away any protection rights they have a single minor. According to state records, 1,246 children as young as 14 were married in Massachusetts between 2000 and 2018 and 89.9 % of them were girls wed to adult men.
Massachusetts in now the 7th state to end child marriages.
~ Millie Blum
Millie Blum
