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 Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Status of Child Mar5 riages in the United States Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT ON CHILD AND FORCED MAR7 RIAGES. 

8 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and Human 

9 Services (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 


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1 conduct a study on the effect of State laws on child mar2 riages and forced marriages. Such study shall include an 

3 evaluation of the following: 

4 (1) State laws with respect to the minimum age 

5 required to receive a marriage license and exceptions 

6 to such minimum age requirement, including in the 

7 cases of parental consent, judicial approval, emanci8 pation, and pregnancy. 

9 (2) The effect of legislative reforms on— 

10 (A) State laws described in paragraph (1); 

11 and 

12 (B) the number of child marriages in— 

13 (i) each State that has enacted excep14 tions to such minimum age requirement; 

15 and 

16 (ii) States that are adjacent to a State 

17 described in clause (i). 

18 (3) The difficulty of obtaining data from each 

19 State with respect to child marriages. 

20 (4) The extent to which exceptions to the min21 imum age requirement increase the number of child 

22 marriages that also qualify as a forced marriage. 

23 (5) The extent to which child marriage leads 

24 to— 

25 (A) domestic violence; 


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1 (B) dating violence; 

2 (C) sexual assault; and 

3 (D) sex trafficking. 

4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 year after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete the 

6 study under subsection (a) and submit to the Committee 

7 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 

8 and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

9 Pensions of the Senate a report containing the findings 

10 of the study, including information that is disaggregated 

11 by age and gender. 

12 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

14 the several States, the District of Columbia, each 

15 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 

16 States, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 

17 (2) CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘child mar18 riage’’ means a marriage in which a party to the 

19 marriage has not attained the age of 18 at the time 

20 of the marriage. 

21 (3) FORCED MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘forced 

22 marriage’’ means a marriage that takes place with23 out the full and free consent of one or both parties 

24 and typically involves force, fraud, or coercion. 

Æ 


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