[TLDR: Change the minimum marriage age between 2 people in the U.S. and federal territories to 18 years of age and assign an exemption to statutory rape for no more than a 5 year difference in age and no less than 2 (it is currently exempted by child marriage). Two minors above the age of consent or one minor and an adult within the legal exemption can get married if there is a pregnancy produced. The marriage certificate must be signed by both spouses. Parents cannot sign for their children in this case.]

Between 2000 and 2018, 300,000 children (mostly young girls) were married to adults in the United States. Despite this, child marriage is legal in 43 states, with 20 states having no minimum age or maximum age difference for marriage. This federal law is worse than even countries that are considered less developed and more predatory towards children. 

Most disturbingly, child marriage provides an exemption to statutory rape. U.S.C. Section 2243 explicitly states sexual abuse of a minor  is when someone "knowingly engages in a sexual act with another person" under 18 except when "the persons engaging in the sexual act were at that time married to each other." This means that any predator that wants to abuse children as young as 12 simply has to convince their parents to allow them to marry. The law protects children younger than 12 from sexual abuse, but not from marriage or cohabitation. In this situation, children younger than 12 could be easily abused in the home by their older spouse. This is an unacceptable situation in the country that leads the free world. We should empower these children to have better outcomes in life and live the American dream as we constantly preach to them.

Informal Bibliography:

https://www.equalitynow.org/learn_more_child_marriage_us/#:~:text=Child%20marriage%20is%20currently%20legal,a%20parental%20or%20judicial%20waiver​

https://childusa.org/child-marriage/