Sara Tasneem at her home in El Sobrante, Calif., on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Tasneem was forced into marriage at the age of 15, escaped her marriage at the age of 23, and is now part of an advocacy group against child marriage. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
“I was basically handed to this stranger. All of my reproductive rights were taken from me that night, all of my bodily autonomy was taken from me. My entire childhood was taken from me.”
— Sara Tasneem, 43, of El Sobrante, who said she was forced at 15 to marry a man nearly twice her age. It lasted eight years and she now an advocates for California, which has no age limit to marry, to approve a bill that would prohibit marriage to children under age 18.
Originally published at Bay Area News Group