Delaware made history in May, becoming the first state in the U.S. to ban any marriage involving children under 18 years old. However, concerns about underage marriage have prompted discussions about why it's still permitted in most states.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with Fraidy Reiss (@FraidyReiss), founder and executive director of the nonprofit Unchained At Last, about child marriage in the U.S. and her own personal experience.

"I was 19 when my family pressured me into marrying a stranger who turned out to be violent," Reiss says. "And then, in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community where I was raised, getting out was nearly impossible because I did not have the legal right to divorce my husband. Under religious law only he could divorce me."

Interview Highlights

On why many states still allow child marriage

"Good question. I've been mulling that over myself. For a long time, I thought it was just legislators didn't know. These are, for the most part, archaic laws. And I thought, 'Once I bring this to the attention of legislators, they'll give me a hug and a high-five and immediately pass legislation to end child marriage.' And, unfortunately, what I've discovered is that ignorance was not the only problem. Because even after we at Unchained At Last have worked to bring this to the attention of legislators across the United States, many have said, 'No, thank you' to ending this human rights abuse that destroys girls' lives. We've introduced legislation in almost two dozen states, and in state after state, legislators have rejected or watered down the legislation."

On pushing for legislative change in New Jersey

"We thought, last year, that New Jersey was going to be our first victory. I worked personally for two years to get that bill through with strong bipartisan support. Nobody objected to this bill. It was a really popular bill. Gov. [Chris] Christie claimed that the reason he did this was that ending child marriage would somehow interfere with religious customs in this state. But I publicly challenged Gov. Christie to name a single religion that requires child marriage and he still has not responded. In fact, religious leaders from many different faiths came out in support of the bill to end child marriage, in New Jersey and in other states. I had no idea what Christie was thinking other than there was some other reason that he did it. And, in fact, he later admitted that the reason he did it was because he was lobbied by an anti-choice group that was concerned that ending child marriage would somehow increase abortion rates, which is absurd. There's no study that has ever shown that."