Take action to prevent child marriage

Sixty million girls around the world are married before the age of 17. You can help bring this practice to an end.

Child marriage is a human rights violation that puts young girls at risk and keeps them mired in poverty. They need your protection.

Please ask your member of Congress to help prevent child marriage by co-sponsoring the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009. At this week's CARE National Conference and Celebration in Washington, D.C., advocates from around the country will be making the same request of their members of Congress. Join them.

When a girl is forced to marry at a young age, it diminishes her chance at an education, endangers her health and has long-lasting and dire consequences not only to her, but to her family and community as well.

Young brides are:

• More likely to become young mothers. Girls under the age of 15 are five times more likely to die of childbirth than women in their 20s.

• More likely to drop out of school and have limited economic opportunities in the future, which keeps them and their families locked in the cycle of poverty.

• Twice as likely to suffer domestic violence and more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV.

The cost of these marriages is too high to be ignored. I encourage you to ask your members of Congress to take immediate action.

The United States can use its leadership to prevent child marriage. This important legislation recognizes child marriage as a human rights violation and develops a comprehensive strategy to prevent these marriages and empower young girls.

Please join me in ensuring that no girl is forced into an early marriage. Ask your representatives to co-sponsor the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009. Thank you for helping to empower young girls around the world.