Maryland failed to end child marriage once again. Why?

Despite some successes in the 2021 Maryland legislative session, a troubling failure was the Child Marriage Act. This legislation has been offered every year for the past six years and gets buried in committee every year. The bill outlaws marriages for adolescents unless they are emancipated minors. Under current law, adolescents can marry at age 16 with parental consent, or at age 15 if the adolescent is pregnant or has a child.