WOW! Republicans in Missouri just refused to ban child marriage, meaning 16 year olds will continue to be allowed to get married in the state.
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) May 17, 2024
The bill faced delays in a House committee due to opposition from a group of Republican members who argued it represented government… pic.twitter.com/OsZQKlT8yG
Missouri Republicans successfully blocked ban on child marriage in the state, which legally allows an adult to commit statutory rape on a child of 16. Republicans claimed that banning child marriage was government overreach and violated parental rights.
Democratic State Sen. Lauren Arthur (D), who co-wrote the bill to ban child marriage. told Missourinet how the vote makes Missouri look bad:
When you look at the statistics that show for a girl that gets married as a teenager before she’s an adult, the divorce rate is almost 80%. Why would we do that? Why would a parent knowing that, why would the legislators in this building not want to ban child marriage?
My friends who are apolitical or live in different parts of the country send me messages and say, ‘What is happening in Missouri?’ It makes Missouri look bad, but more importantly, we are not doing enough to protect young girls who are forced into marriages and whose lives are worse in every way as a result.
State Rep. Mike Moon bragged to know a 10-year-old child who married an adult and is still married today. In 2023, Moon claimed he knew two 12-year-olds who got married and stayed together, noted Business Insider.
State Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder (R) told Rolling Stone was shocked to see her own party block it:
I know firsthand. I was married at 15. My sister was married at 16. My cousin was married at 16. I understand how a teenage girl being married off is harmful to her life, and sometimes that’s hard for others who haven’t seen that, up close and personal, to understand.
State Rep. Rep. Hardy Billington opposed the ban on child marriage and told the Kansas City Star it would promote abortion:
My opinion is that if someone [wants to] get married at 17, and they’re going to have a baby, and they cannot get married, then… chances of abortion are extremely high.
Rolling Stone noted statistics on child marriage based on scientific studies:
A 2021 study by the advocacy group Unchained at Last found that 300,000 minors were married between 2000 and 2018 in the United States. According to the group, 60,000 of those marriages involved an age difference that would have otherwise been considered a sex crime.
The vast majority of these minors were 16 or 17 years old, and most were girls wed to adult men who were four years older than they were, on average. There were five documented instances of children as young as 10 married in the U.S. in the period studied.
(Sources: Twitter, Business Insider, Rolling Stone, Kansas City Star, Missourinet)