Why child marriage is legal in California

No to child marriage: Protesters rallying against child marriage in front of the California state Capitol. The advocates and survivors are asking the state Legislature for a Bill that would prohibit child marriage in the state.. — The Sacramento Bee/TNS

THE marriage certificate appears unremarkable – another piece of government paper. But Mandy Havlik keeps a copy of it as proof of her past.

It was issued by the state of Arizona in 1999, a week after her 17th birthday. Her parents, strict Pentecostal Evangelical Christians, had pressured her to marry a 23-year-old suitor, an aspiring preacher at their church, she said.