Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696584882310.pdf (United States)
I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8638 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the effect of State laws on child marriages and forced marriages, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 20, 2020 Ms. MOORE (for herself and Mr. TAYLOR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the effect of State laws on child marriages and forced marriages, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1.

SHORT TITLE.
SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Status of Child Mar- riages in the United States Act of 2020’’.

SEC.

2.

STUDY AND REPORT ON CHILD AND FORCED MAR- RIAGES.


(a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall conduct a study on the effect of State laws on child mar- riages and forced marriages.
Such study shall include an evaluation of the following: (1) State laws with respect to the minimum age required to receive a marriage license and exceptions to such minimum age requirement, including in the cases of parental consent, judicial approval, emanci- pation, and pregnancy.
(2) The effect of legislative reforms on— (A) State laws described in paragraph (1); and (B) the number of child marriages in— (i) each State that has enacted excep- tions to such minimum age requirement; and (ii) States that are adjacent to a State described in clause (i).

(3) The difficulty of obtaining data from each State with respect to child marriages.

(4) The extent to which exceptions to the min- imum age requirement increase the number of child marriages that also qualify as a forced marriage.
(5) The extent to which child marriage leads to— •HR 8638 IH (A) domestic violence (B) dating violence; (C) sexual assault; and (D) sex trafficking.
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete the study under subsection (a) and submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report containing the findings of the study, including information that is disaggregated 11 by age and gender.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe.

(2) CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘child mar- riage’’ means a marriage in which a party to the marriage has not attained the age of 18 at the time of the marriage.
(3) FORCED MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘forced marriage’’ means a marriage that takes place with- out the full and free consent of one or both parties and typically involves force, fraud, or coercion.

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