McGuireWoods partner Ashley Groome picks one pro bono legislative project every year to support while she's at the Capitol working for clients as director and senior vice president of the firm's consulting branch.

This year it was House Bill 228, which took effect this month, raising the minimum age for marriage in Georgia from 16 to 18, or 17 with a judge's order of emancipation. The point, said Groome, is that “only a legal adult” can be married.

It wasn't something Groome had planned. Her past pro bono lobbying efforts have been on behalf of foster children. But a call from a perfect stranger focused her attention. It was Jeanne Smoot, public policy counsel for Tahirih Justice Center. Tahirih is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women who are fleeing violence. The group is backing bills across the country to raise marriage age to the age of adulthood to protect against human trafficking, sexual servitude and other forms of abuse.

So Groome invited Smoot to a meeting at McGuireWoods with her and colleague Danica Thompson, vice president in the consulting branch. Like Groome, Thompson had done pro bono work to help foster children.

“Some of the statistics really caught my attention,” Groome said. Tahirih had research to show that women who marry young are far more likely to be abused, to end their education prematurely, to live in poverty and to suffer other damaging effects. A significant number of young brides are reportedly trafficked from other countries or simply coerced by men twice their age.

Based on data that the Tahirih Justice Center obtained from the Georgia Department of Health, approximately 10,000 children under age 18 were married in the state of Georgia between 2000 and 2015, many of them married to much older adult spouses. Child marriages are statistically linked to up to 80% divorce rates, 50% or greater high school dropout rates, much higher likelihood of future poverty, more short- and long-term medical and mental health problems and increased vulnerability to violence, the organization said.

Groome and Thompson joined Smoot in helping to draft the legislation, working closely with the bill's sponsor, Rep. Andrew Welch, R-McDonough.

The law raises the legal age for marriage from 16 to 18. It includes an exception only for 17-year-olds if a juvenile court judge has granted emancipation. And that is not allowed if the older partner has a criminal record for a crime of violence or sexual abuse.

One question legislators asked repeatedly was, what about young pregnant teenagers? The answer was that they're still children and need to be protected, Groome said.

“You want a mom to be able to provide for her child,” Groome said. “If a teen gets married to an abusive individual and she can't even open a credit card or sign a lease,” she has no options, she added.

“It was an honor to work with the Tahirih Justice Center on this legislation,” Groome said. “The law will help protect young girls and hopefully change the trajectory of their lives.”