Child marriage remains a critical issue in the United States because children as young as 13 can still be married in 37 states across the country. And despite the tireless advocacy of organizations like Unchained at Last, Freedom United, and many others, legal loopholes still exist allowing minors to marry. 

Sara Tasneem, a survivor of child marriage and powerful advocate, has been working alongside the nonprofit Unchained At Last and others to share her story and end child marriage across the U.S. At just 15, she was forced to marry a man 13 years her senior, losing her reproductive rights, access to education, and more. After finally separating from her husband, she returned to school and earned her bachelor's degree. Today, she testifies across the country to end child marriage and supports other victims in their journey to freedom. 

In California, the fight for justice and protection for minors continues with Assembly Bill 2924 — Marriage: Prohibition on Minors (AB 2924). This urgent bill seeks to set the minimum age for marriage at 18 without exceptions, closing the loopholes that currently allow children to marry with parental consent and a court order. Unchained At Last founder Fraidy Reiss, Sara Tasneem, and others are working tirelessly to advocate against amendments to this bill that fail to protect minors in the state. If successful, this legislation could set a precedent, influencing similar reforms across the country and offering hope for ending child marriage both in the U.S. and globally.

To learn more about the upcoming AB 2924 bill decision in California, we spoke with Tasneem about her recent work with Unchained At Last, what it takes to share her story, and what needs to be done right now to end child marriage in the U.S. and worldwide.

Global Citizen: Why did you become involved with Unchained At Last, and how are you and Unchained At Last working together?

Sara Tasneem: I started advocating for child marriage victims when I went back to school in 2017. I was pulled out of school at a young age, and when I returned to school for my bachelor's degree, I was doing a research project on child marriage because it happened to me, and I wanted to know more. 

I was completely shocked because I thought what had happened to me was an anomaly, but I discovered that child marriage was is a widespread issue and [at that time] legal in all 50 [U.S.] states. And when I dove deeper into the topic, I came across Unchained At Last. At first, I started doing my advocacy work through a different nonprofit and connected through Unchained At Last because they’re one of the leaders in this national movement.

I started sharing my story through public outlets, attending legislative hearings, and giving my testimony alongside other survivors. I've also been working alongside Unchained At Last since 2017 as a volunteer peer mentor with survivors who need additional emotional support. It’s so powerful to help victims see that they’re not alone. 

Child marriage is not a unique experience; it happens across the U.S. Sharing my story and working with other victims can be sad, but it can also be very healing to meet and support somebody going through that difficult part of that journey. Even though I had family members outside of the group who helped, I wish someone had helped me along the way.

So now, through my advocacy, it feels like I'm able to give back, and that’s healing.  

GC: What was a turning point for you to start speaking out publicly with Unchained At Last and other groups through your advocacy? What have been your biggest achievements?

Sara: I never thought that I was going to be in this work or that I was going to be a public advocate; it’s just not something I did. It just kind of happened that I connected with Unchained At Last and that at the same time, they were working very heavily across the U.S. to end child marriage. Since 2017, I've been able to do a lot of advocacy in the media, and I've worked with many national and international media outlets. My story has been featured in documentaries, and I've gotten a chance to connect with so many other survivors; to me, that’s one of my biggest achievements. 

Connecting with other survivors who are also trying to make a change has been a huge benefit in this work — it's amazing to see the power and impact of women. Working with other women has changed my life and is not something I anticipated when I started my advocacy work in 2017. Now 13 states have ended child marriage under 18, which is a huge win for survivors and nonprofits. I testified in almost all of those states, and in others that have not passed legislation to end child marriage.  

It's never easy to share our stories, and it's always painful. But when states do listen and do make the changes, it's extremely powerful. And they're just huge wins, like incredible celebrations for all of us. Most recently, in Washington State, where I traveled three times to testify alongside other survivors, which was hugely emotional for me. 

I hope that will continue because all states need to end child marriage, not just 13. It can be healing to tell your story, but it's a double-edged sword too, because if you don't take care of yourself and if you don't have an outlet or support, it can be extremely re-traumatizing.

For each survivor, it's very individual. Some people don't want to retell their story. Some don't want to publicly share. 

GC: It's a really important point of view—it takes an incredible amount of courage and work to share your story.

States like West Virginia and Texas have some of the highest rates of child marriage. What are your thoughts on the current state of child marriage across the U.S. and what needs to change at the state level to help protect the victims of child marriage after it's happened? 

Sara: Each state needs to listen to survivors of forced child marriage and listen to what we're asking for. Our laws do not protect minors from the very serious harms of child marriage. What we're asking is for all states to set their minimum age to marry at 18 — without exceptions. The reason we're addressing this issue is that minors under 18 don't share the same rights as adults. If you're married under 18 in a state that allows it, you can't escape to a domestic violence shelter or access legal services. An adult can, but a minor cannot. You're allowed to enter into a marriage, but you're not able to easily leave it. There’s an obvious power imbalance. 

GC: AB 2924 is awaiting action in the California Assembly Judiciary Committee. What should we know about the bill, and why is it so important?

It's an important bill because it sets the minimum age to marry at 18 without exception, and it has a lot of support from many legislators across the board. The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, [California State Representative] Ash Kalra put a stop to our bill by just taking it off the hearing agenda. He demanded we set the age to 16 and amend the language. 

Thankfully the legislator we're working with is [California Assemblywoman] Cottie Petrie-Norris, who said no, she wasn't willing to make those amendments. It’s taken so long to get this issue back on the agenda. Advocates and nonprofits have worked hard on this bill for it to simply be dropped without a vote. 

It feels like something is failing in our system, in our process, because this bill [to end child marriage] does have a lot of support. And one person shouldn't have the power to just take it off. 

Sara Tasneem. Image supplied by Sara Tasneem.

GC: How are you advocating to support the assembly bill in the lead-up to the legislative decision?

Sara: I've been working on a California bill since 2017. The first bill failed, Senator Hill's bill, which did get passed but became a watered-down version of the original text. Since then, we have been fighting to get a bill back on the agenda in California. I've supported this bill all along the way through my work with Unchained At Last, who are tirelessly working to make sure it addresses child marriage. We’re showing up to protests and to the hearings to advocate for effective policy. We’re also making phone calls to my representatives and setting up meetings. I have even spoken with Representative Kalra directly. The problem is that minors are getting married in this state [California] now, but the numbers aren’t being tracked properly. One minor forced into marriage is one too many. 

GC: What do you think are the biggest impacts of a positive decision on the California bill, and how will that impact other states in the US and legislation on child marriage? 

Sara: Washington State recently ended child marriage. In 2019, Nevada changed their laws where I testified twice; however, Nevada still allows for underage marriage (17 and older), so that is not a win in my book, but it is a movement towards the goal of ending child marriage at 18 with no exceptions. With progress on the West Coast, California might become a destination for child marriages unless they follow suit. As other states change their laws, we risk seeing certain states becoming destinations for predators to marry children. Does California want to become one of those states? If you don’t stop it in every state, predators will find a way to state-shop their child marriages.

GC: Girls who married before 18 were 15 percent more likely to drop out of school, four times more likely to graduate, and less likely to graduate from college. How has education impacted your life, and how important is it to those who flee child marriage? 

Sara: I had planned and wanted to go to college. I wanted to join the military and eventually go to law school, but all that ended when I was forced to marry my abuser at 15. 

Education for me meant that I would be able to have opportunities in my life that I wanted to pursue. Every child should have the opportunity to be able to pursue the dreams that they want, but when minors marry, they're more likely to be taken out of school. School and all of their opportunities are taken from them, like reproductive rights. They're forced to have children and are often children themselves. 

And when they divorce now, they have to take care of children, with far fewer advantages than their adult counterparts. That's why so many child marriage victims end up in poverty later in adulthood, as was the case for me. I had to fight extremely hard to go back to school while working full-time as a single mother. Anybody who has gone to school can tell you that it is not easy — on top of that, raising children and being behind your peers is a recipe for failure. All children should have the opportunity to go to school and be able to have the same educational opportunities as everybody else does. Child marriage prevents access to education and opportunities and sets kids up for abuse and future poverty. 

GC: How can people support your advocacy, and what impact do you hope it will have? 

Sara: Child marriage is happening around the world. The best way to support our advocacy work is to learn about the child marriage laws in your state or country. and what’s being done to help or support change in your area. And are there already advocacy efforts going on, and how can you support them? How can you amplify those voices? For me, it’s important to support young people and let them be heard. The more outreach we can do, the more that we can spread the word that child marriage is a huge issue, and it's something that needs action now. Time is running out for so many minors. Elevating the voices of survivors and just creating more awareness of this issue are huge parts of what I do. Sharing our stories is important for advocacy so people know this is real and happening in the U.S.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity, and Unchained at Last is a partner with Global Citizen.