[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4990 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4990

     To comprehensively combat child marriage in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2024

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Schatz, and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To comprehensively combat child marriage in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Child Marriage Prevention Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Over 300,000 minors were married in the United States 
        between 2000 and 2018. Most were wed to adult men and some were 
        as young as 10 years of age, though most were 16 or 17 years of 
        age.
            (2) Child marriage limits educational opportunities. Women 
        who marry before they turn 19 years of age are 50 percent more 
        likely to drop out of high school and 4 times less likely to 
        graduate from college.
            (3) Girls who marry in their early teens are up to 31 
        percent more likely to live in future poverty.
            (4) Child marriage has harmful consequences for mental and 
        physical health. Women who married as children have higher 
        rates of certain psychiatric disorders. Another study found 
        that women who marry before 19 years of age have a 23 percent 
        greater risk of developing a serious health condition, 
        including diabetes, cancer, heart attack, or stroke.
            (5) Child marriage can facilitate physical, emotional, and 
        verbal abuse. Girls and young women 16 to 24 years of age 
        experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence, and 
        girls 16 to 19 years of age experience intimate partner 
        violence victimization rates that are almost triple the 
        national average. Further, the majority of States allow 
        marriage to be used as a defense to statutory rape laws, which 
        can incentivize perpetrators to marry victims to preempt 
        prosecutions.
            (6) 70 to 80 percent of marriages entered into when at 
        least one person is under 18 years of age ultimately end in 
        divorce. According to one study based on census data, 23 
        percent of children who marry are already separated or divorced 
        by the time they turn 18 years of age.
            (7) Depending on the State, a child facing a forced 
        marriage or a married minor trying to leave may find themselves 
        with few options. A minor trying to avoid a forced marriage may 
        not be able to leave home without being taken into custody and 
        returned by police and may not be able to stay in a domestic 
        violence shelter at all or in a youth shelter for longer than a 
        few days. Friends or allies of a child escaping a marriage who 
        offer to take them in could risk being charged with 
        contributing to the delinquency of a minor or harboring a 
        runaway. And, if the minor attempts to obtain a home of their 
        own, they may find no one willing to rent to them, because in 
        many circumstances, minors cannot be held to contracts they 
        enter.
            (8) Depending on the State, a minor who is being forced or 
        coerced into marriage may not be entitled to file on their own 
        for a protective order. Further, not all States clearly treat 
        married minors as emancipated, meaning they still have the 
        limited legal status and rights of a child and face similar 
        vulnerabilities and challenges seeking help.
            (9) Child marriage in the United States can also be 
        facilitated through the immigration system. Subject to rare 
        exceptions, United States immigration law recognizes marriages 
        as valid if they were legal where they took place and where the 
        parties will reside. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 
        reported that between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2017, it 
        approved 8,686 petitions for spousal or fiance visas that 
        involved at least one minor, though it remains unclear how many 
        of these visas were ultimately approved by the Department of 
        State. However, approximately 2.6 percent of fiance and spousal 
        petitions were returned unapproved to U.S. Citizenship and 
        Immigration Services between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 
        2017. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the United 
        States issued a visa to a significant number of the spouses and 
        fiances named on the 8,686 petitions.
            (10) Four States set no statutory minimum age for marriage. 
        In 13 States and the District of Columbia, clerks acting on 
        their own--without judges--can issue marriage licenses for all 
        minors. Four States permit pregnancy to lower the minimum 
        marriage age and in one State, Mississippi, the statute sets 
        different conditions for approvals for girls and boys.
            (11) There is a growing movement to eliminate child 
        marriage in the United States and 13 States--Delaware, New 
        Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, 
        Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, 
        Virginia, and New Hampshire have set the minimum age for 
        marriage at 18 years of age, with no exceptions. Since 2016, a 
        total of 35 States have enacted new laws to end or limit child 
        marriage with 5 more States requiring parties to be legal 
        adults (meaning that the only exception to the requirement to 
        be 18 years of age to be married is for certain court-
        emancipated minors). Until all States take action, however, the 
        patchwork of State laws will continue to put all children, 
        particularly girls, at risk, given the ease with which they can 
        be taken out of their home State into another State with lax or 
        no laws.
            (12) The foreign policy of the United States is already 
        imbued with these understandings that child marriage is harmful 
        and should be prevented, including the following:
                    (A) The Department of State in its Foreign Affairs 
                Manual states the Federal Government view of ``forced 
                marriage to be a violation of basic human rights. It 
                also considers the forced marriage of a minor child to 
                be a form of child abuse, since the child will 
                presumably be subjected to non-consensual sex.''.
                    (B) The United States Agency for International 
                Development observes that Child, Early, and Forced 
                Marriage (In this paragraph referred to as ``CEFM'') 
                ``impedes girls' education and increases early 
                pregnancy and the risk of maternal mortality, obstetric 
                complications, gender-based violence, and HIV/AIDS. 
                Children of young mothers have higher rates of infant 
                mortality and malnutrition compared to children of 
                mothers older than 18. . . . CEFM is also associated 
                with reductions in economic productivity for 
                individuals and nations at large. CEFM is a human 
                rights abuse and a practice that undermines efforts to 
                promote sustainable growth and development.''.
                    (C) Congress enacted the Violence Against Women 
                Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Public Law 113-4; 127 
                Stat. 54), which requires the Secretary of State to 
                establish and implement a multiyear strategy--
                            (i) to ``prevent child marriages''; and
                            (ii) to ``promote the empowerment of girls 
                        at risk of child marriage in developing 
                        countries''.
            (13) In 2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equity and 
        Equality named child marriage as a form of gender-based 
        violence that undermines human rights globally and 
        domestically, noting--
                    (A) ``Millions of women and girls remain at risk of 
                female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and child, 
                early and forced marriage, forms of gender-based 
                violence that undermine security and human rights, 
                including here in the United States''; and
                    (B) ``In the United States, we will collaborate 
                with state officials to prevent and address harmful 
                practices that undermine human rights, including laws 
                that permit child, early and forced marriage . . . and 
                ensure access to social services for those harmed.''.
            (14) The report titled ``U.S. National Plan to End Gender-
        Based Violence: Strategies for Action,'' published in May, 
        2023, which focuses on preventing and addressing various forms 
        of interpersonal violence occurring within the United States, 
        defines gender-based violence as a ``range of interpersonal 
        violence across the life course'' including child, early, and 
        forced marriage.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Noncitizen.--The term ``noncitizen'' means any person 
        who is not a citizen or national of the United States.
            (2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
        territory, or possession of the United States.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL COMMISSION TO ADDRESS CHILD MARRIAGE.

    (a) In General.--There is established within the Department of 
Health and Human Services a commission, to be known as the National 
Commission to Combat Child Marriage in the United States (in this 
section referred to as the ``Commission''), which shall--
            (1) conduct a comprehensive study on child marriage in the 
        United States, including--
                    (A) applicable laws, or the absence of laws, which 
                define or prohibit child marriage;
                    (B) the extent to which such marriages currently 
                occur;
                    (C) the extent to which such marriages occurred 
                over the last 5 years in each State;
                    (D) the circumstances in which such marriages take 
                place (including risk factors that may have played a 
                role in such marriages taking place); and
                    (E) the impact of such marriages on the individuals 
                who were married before turning 18 years of age;
            (2) build upon the evaluations of other entities and avoid 
        unnecessary duplication, by reviewing the findings, 
        conclusions, and recommendations of other commissions, the 
        Federal Government, State and local governments, State task 
        forces, and nongovernmental entities relating to child marriage 
        in the United States;
            (3) submit a report on specific findings, conclusions, and 
        recommendations to eliminate child marriage in the United 
        States to--
                    (A) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 
                Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
                the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House 
                of Representatives; and
                    (C) the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and
            (4) carry out other duties as described in subsection (c).
    (b) Composition of Commission.--
            (1) Members.--The Commission shall be composed of 10 
        members, of whom--
                    (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the President;
                    (B) 1 member, who is of a different political party 
                than that of the member appointed under paragraph (1), 
                shall be appointed by the President;
                    (C) 4 members shall be appointed by the Secretary 
                of Health and Human Services;
                    (D) 1 member shall be appointed by the majority 
                leader of the Senate;
                    (E) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority 
                leader of the Senate;
                    (F) 1 member shall be appointed by the Speaker of 
                the House of Representatives; and
                    (G) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority 
                leader of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Governmental appointees.--An individual appointed to 
        the Commission may not be an officer or employee of the Federal 
        Government.
            (3) Commission representation.--The Commission shall 
        include at least--
                    (A) 1 survivor of child marriage;
                    (B) 1 representative from a private nonprofit 
                entity with demonstrated expertise in working with 
                survivors of child marriage in the United States;
                    (C) 1 representative from a private nonprofit 
                entity with demonstrated expertise in working with 
                immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United 
                States; and
                    (D) 1 representative from a private nonprofit 
                entity with demonstrated expertise in working with 
                State governments to limit child marriage.
            (4) Qualifications.--Members appointed under paragraph (1) 
        shall have demonstrated experience or expertise in--
                    (A) providing services to survivors of child 
                marriage in the United States;
                    (B) providing services to immigrant survivors of 
                child marriage in the United States;
                    (C) working with State governments to limit child 
                marriage;
                    (D) the medical challenges that survivors of child 
                marriage face;
                    (E) the mental health challenges that survivors of 
                child marriage face;
                    (F) legal issues involving individuals who were 
                married or sought to marry before becoming 18 years of 
                age;
                    (G) conducting research on the impact of child 
                marriage on individuals who were married before 
                becoming 18 years of age;
                    (H) risk factors that play a role in child 
                marriage; or
                    (I) issues of forced or coerced marriage, family 
                violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, or child 
                abuse.
            (5) Initial meeting.--Not later than 120 days after the 
        appointment of members of the Commission, the Commission 
        shall--
                    (A) hold an initial meeting, at which the members 
                shall elect a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, who 
                shall be of different political parties, from among 
                such members and shall determine a schedule of 
                Commission meetings; and
                    (B) begin the operations of the Commission.
            (6) Quorum and vacancy.--
                    (A) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the 
                Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser 
                number of members may hold hearings.
                    (B) Vacancy.--Any vacancy in the Commission shall 
                not affect its powers and shall be filled in the same 
                manner in which the original appointment was made.
    (c) Duties of the Commission.--The Commission shall--
            (1) conduct pursuant to subsection (a) a comprehensive 
        study that examines and assesses the adequacy of laws 
        addressing child marriage, the extent of child marriage across 
        the country, risk factors that play a role in child marriage, 
        and the impact of child marriage on those individuals in the 
        United States who marry before becoming 18 years of age, 
        including making specific findings relating to--
                    (A) threats to such individuals' safety and well-
                being, including--
                            (i) physical and mental health, economic, 
                        and educational impacts;
                            (ii) forced or coerced marriage;
                            (iii) family violence;
                            (iv) vulnerability to abuse and 
                        exploitation;
                            (v) sexual assault;
                            (vi) child abuse and neglect; and
                            (vii) human trafficking;
                    (B) barriers to and gaps in services for minors 
                facing the threat of forced marriage or already married 
                minors seeking protection from abuse;
                    (C) Federal laws, regulations, policies, and 
                programs relevant to child marriage and individuals who 
                marry before becoming 18 years of age; and
                    (D) based on a survey of such laws, State laws 
                defining or prohibiting child marriage, including 
                lessons learned from States that have, or that lack, 
                laws, regulations, and policies to limit child 
                marriage; and
            (2) submit to the President, the Secretary of Health and 
        Human Services, and Congress a report on the specific findings, 
        conclusions, and recommendations to address and ultimately 
        eliminate child marriage in the United States and improve 
        services and outcomes for survivors of child marriage in the 
        United States, including specific recommendations on policies, 
        regulations, and legislative changes as the Commission 
        considers appropriate to address child marriage in the United 
        States.
    (d) Powers of the Commission.--
            (1) Hearings.--The Commission may hold such hearings, meet 
        and act at such times and places, and receive such evidence as 
        may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Commission.
            (2) Information from federal agencies.--
                    (A) In general.--The Commission may access, to the 
                extent authorized by law, from any executive 
                department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, 
                independent establishment, or instrumentality of the 
                Federal Government such information, suggestions, 
                estimates, and statistics as the Commission considers 
                necessary to carry out this section.
                    (B) Provision of information.--On written request 
                of the Chairperson of the Commission, each department,