If you were to ask the average American if marriages between minors and adults are illegal in the United States, most would probably say yes. But they would be incorrect. In the US, there are only seven states that have banned the practice of child marriages with no exceptions.
In fact, there's not even a legal minimum age for marriage in 20 states. According to a 2020 survey, half of Americans believe child marriage is against the law, but the practice is alive and well. A 2021 study found that 300,000 minors were legally married in the US between 2000 and 2018. With so many of these marriages happening this recently, one can only imagine what things were like in the past.
One woman, who was married off as a young teen and pregnant for the third time by age 16, is trying to shine a light on the ongoing issue of child marriage in the US. Dawn Tyree is finally divorced and her kids are adults themselves now, so she spends her time trying to get laws passed to protect children from experiences like hers.
Dawn was groomed from the time she was 11 years old.
Dawn doesn’t have to imagine how serious of an issue this is. She lived it. Now 51, Dawn was pregnant by the time she was 13 years old, Today.com reports. By the time she finished sixth grade, she was married to a 32-year-old man.
Their relationship, which she now recognizes as abuse, began when she was just 11, with the encouragement of her father and stepmother. Dawn was groomed. This adult man would give her adult responsibilities, like driving a car, to make her feel older than she actually was.
Those adult activities included statutory rape. When Dawn got pregnant in 1985, she and this man married. “The solution was marriage,” Dawn told Today.com. "Marriage covers up the rape, the sex abuse and the child endangerment. The marriage saved him from a prison sentence and essentially put me in a prison.”
'It is brainwashing,' Dawn said of the treatment she endured during that time in her life.
As a minor, Dawn was powerless in the situation. “It was a confusing time. It is brainwashing — call it what it is,” she said. Looking back, Dawn says it would have been nice if any of the 30 adults in her life at the time would have stood up for her. But today, Dawn is doing what her guardians did not.
“The generation of minding your own business is in the past,” Dawn said. “We want more for our children.”
At such a young age, Dawn was terrified of giving birth, convinced that she was going to die in the process. No one had told her such a thing could happen, it was just an innate fear. When it was time for her to have her first child, the labor was difficult.
“I was in and out of consciousness when I was giving birth to my first child. I now realize that likely my life was in danger," she explained to Today.com.
At 14, she learned she was pregnant again. “It was a hard pill to swallow — it put a little lump in my throat. But I lived through the first birth, so I just reassured myself: 'You're going to be OK. You can do this.' Then I had my daughter."
When she got pregnant a third time, Dawn knew she had to do something different.
At 16, Dawn learned that she was pregnant again. But this time, things felt different, and Dawn chose a different path. “I became concerned about sexual abuse directed towards my children," she explained. "So after my daughter was born, I began to try to plan a way out. When I became pregnant again, I felt very trapped, so I made the decision to terminate the pregnancy and I escaped without a plan."
Dawn left with her two children and went to a women’s shelter. She was turned away because she was still a minor. "A social worker told me to go back to my parents, because they were 'responsible for me,’” Dawn recalls. “I was emancipated. But if I was emancipated, why was my husband reporting me as a runaway? It was a road no one should have to navigate."
Dawn found herself homeless. “I had to separate our family unit, because my children deserve to be housed and fed, so they went with their paternal grandparents and I tried to get my feet on the ground," she explains. "Once I found a roommate situation, I took my kids back."
Dawn didn't feel relief until her children were grown.
Two years later, at 18, Dawn was able to finalize her divorce and won full custody of her children. She slowly started rebuilding her life. But that didn’t mean she did so without fear. Dawn said it wasn’t until her children were in their 20s that she was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
“I don't live in fear of losing my kids anymore," she says. "I've done it — I kept us safe. They're adults now."
Now she advocates for others like her.
With her own safety secured, Dawn is working for the children who are still being abused through legal marriages. She testifies in state committees around the country, advocating for state and federal bills that will end the practice of child marriages across the entire nation.
"It's no longer about me," she said. "I can remove all of my trauma and show up for the other 13-year-old brides. I'm speaking for those who are silenced — for those who don't have a voice."
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter domesticshelters.org.
