Fraidy Reiss is the founder and executive director of Unchained At Last, a non-profit that’s been battling arranged and forced marriages for the past 12 years. (Photo copyright Susan Landman)

(JTA) — New legislation banning child marriage in Washington, D.C., was signed into law last week following advocacy by a coalition including Unchained At Last, a Jewish-led organization that opposes underage marriage.

The new act establishes the marriage age as 18 in Washington, D.C. with no exceptions. It was signed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and became law recently following a 30-day congressional review.

The law closes loopholes that allowed children aged 16 or 17 to be married with parental consent. According to data collected by Unchained at Last, 110 minors in D.C. were married between the years 2000 and 2023.

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“Thank you, D.C., for standing up for girls and banning an archaic human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives.” said Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director of Unchained At Last, in a press release.

Reiss, who is a survivor of what she describes as a forced teenage marriage in a haredi Orthodox community, has been a staunch advocate for ending child marriage nationwide. The press release said her group worked with the Washington, D.C. Coalition to End Child Marriage, which also lists Unchained at Last among its partners.

“We’re trying to solve a problem that most people don’t even know exists,” Reiss told JTA in 2023. “Most Americans have no idea that child marriage is legal in the U.S. Child marriage is a nightmarish legal trap.”

Unchained At Last garnered attention in 2023 after it debuted a PSA-style teaser for a fake reality show highlighting child marriage. At times, including during a 2018 fight over child marriage in New Jersey, the group’s advocacy has met opposition from other Jewish activists who have sought to maintain permissions for underage marriage. The New Jersey child marriage ban eventually passed.

The capital now joins a tally of 13 states and two U.S. territories that have banned child marriage outright. Ten more have laws pending that would eliminate the practice.

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