Congresswoman McCollum's Statement on International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010

Today, 25,000 girls - some as young as ten years old - will be robbed of their future when they are forced to marry much older men. It isn't marriage when a ten year old girl is given to a forty year old man. That is sexual abuse.

The practice of child marriage is wrong and it must end. The United States must take a stand against child marriage.

Democrats and Republicans must come together and pass the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act as soon as possible. Every Senator agreed to this bill when it passed last week. It passed unanimously.

There is a lot of talk in Congress about the need to protect children from abuse. It is time for action. It's time for a vote.

I yield back.