Child marriage has been somewhat of a dirty secret in America. Many haven’t even known that it was legal until recently, as several states including New York began their fight to end it. According to the Human Rights Watch, 3,850 children under 18 were married in the state of New York alone from 2001 to 2010.

The practice of child marriage is considered a contributing factor to the poverty cycle, especially for young girls. When they marry young, they often don’t complete school. They’re also more likely to experience domestic violence and have a much higher risk of dying from pregnancy or childbirth. In fact, if a child is under 18 and pregnant, her risk of dying is 60% higher than that of a 19-year-old or older.

Human Rights Watch had campaigned year-after-year for change, but the controversial issue wasn’t in the spotlight. That is, until it staged a stunt in Times Square. Human Rights Watch created a social experiment in which a young girl, who looked as young as 12 years old, dressed in a wedding gown, and a much older man dressed in a wedding suit, received a photoshoot. New Yorkers showed absolute disgust, threatening to call the cops on the older man. One woman even attempted to take the gloomy-eyed adolescent away from the older man. The video that documented the social experiment made its way across the press. *Warning – this video contains censored profanity. You can view the video by clicking here.

New York would not allow for this anymore. On June 20^th, 2017, “Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed two bills into law raising the official age of consent to get married to 18 years old.” Prior to this, New York State law allowed children as young as 14 years old to be married with a judge’s approval. A parent’s approval was the only thing required for children as young as 16 years old to be married.

Although this practice is more common in other countries, it’s still allowed by law here in many other states. Last month, New Jersey almost passed a bill that would outlaw child marriage. Unfortunately, Governor Chris Christie vetoed this bill. But other states are on the same page as New York. In June 2016, Virginia passed a similar law banning child marriage. Last week, Texas made a similar move. Bills that ban child marriage are being proposed in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.