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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. 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 
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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— 
(A) domestic violence; 
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(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 
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. 
Æ 
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