Last night, members of the Missouri House faced a vote on a bill that would bar marriage for state residents fourteen or younger. Fifty of them voted no.
Granted, the bill passed, 95-50, but the surge of opposition is noteworthy, since the bill is geared to reform a state law that's been criticized for making Missouri a haven for sex trafficking. It's a law that permits younger teens to enter into marriage, regardless of their age gap with their betrothed, so long as someone (parents, judges) say it's OK.
Under current law, for instance, a fifteen-year-old can marry a 30-year-old as long as they obtain permission from a parent. And those even younger than fifteen can legally marry with the approval of a judge.
The bill in question, sponsored by Representative Jean Evans (R-Manchester), would take parents out of the equation: minors between the ages of fifteen and seventeen would need a judge's approval to marry. Seventeen-year-olds would need a parent's consent. And, in a first for the state, Evans' bill would outright ban the practice of issuing marriage licenses to children fourteen or younger.
The measure would ban marriages involving one partner younger than
seventeen and the other older than 21, and in the case of any marriage
involving a child under eighteen, Evans' bill would also require a court
"determine that there is no evidence of coercion or abuse of either
person entering the marriage." (It's worth remembering that, in all
other cases in Missouri, a person 21 or older can be charged with
statutory rape for having sex with a minor under the age of 17.)
Child Marriage Is A-OK, Say 50 Missouri Lawmakers | News Blog
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