Yes, though the struggle to criminalize marital rape in the U.K. has a similar history to the U.S., differing in outcome and implementation by only a few years. Marital rape did not become illegal in England and Wales until 1991.

And in 2018, a YouGov survey found that an "alarming" number of Britons did not consider nonconsensual sex within marriage to be rape.

I think Elle was writing to call out those attitudes wherever they may be found, not to call out the U.S. as uniquely horrifying.