California has banned marriage for anyone under 18, with Governor Gavin Newsom signing a law that takes effect on 1 January 2027. The change ends a system that campaigners say left children vulnerable to abuse and trapped in relationships, and makes California the 18th US state to ban child marriage since 2018.

Previously, minors in California could marry with parental consent and a judge’s approval, and there was no legal minimum age or specific way for under-18s to divorce. The advocacy group Unchained At Last estimates that about 9,000 girls married each year in the state, almost always to adult men. Survivors including Courtney Stodden, who married at 16, and Brittany Bee, who married at 17, welcomed the law; child marriage remains legal in 32 states.