Child marriage in America has fallen sharply—but not far enough

WHEN APRIL KELLEY was 15 she was married, against her will, to a family friend seven years her senior. He drove her six hours from her home state of Arkansas into Missouri, which then had looser laws governing the marriage of minors. April remembers a county clerk at the ceremony peering at her tear-stained face and asking if she wanted to go ahead; she was too terrified to reply, she recalls. Her mother and husband-to-be nodded their assent.

Back in Arkansas, she lived with her in-laws. April’s husband would take her out of school at lunch break to have sex and often kept her home, sending fake medical notes to her teachers. He would not even let her shower alone. More than a decade later, April cries as she describes the experience, which she endured for a little over a year. After her father-in-law started acting lasciviously towards her, she ran away.

Laws ought to protect children from such horrors, but America’s too often do not. Though most states have a minimum marrying age of 18, most also have exceptions—generally, by the consent of a parent or approval of a judge. Missouri is one of 14 states (as well as Washington, DC) that gives county clerks rather than judges the power to issue marriage licences for minors. Nine states have no lower age limit.

A push for legal reform is having some success. In...