Missouri Lawmakers Still Cool with Child Marriage, Actually

Can’t be hasty messing with a century-old Missouri tradition

May 9, 2024 at 2:08 pm

A bill to ban child marriage in Missouri may die this session thanks to seven members of a key House committee. PHOTO VIA FLICKR/Evan Forester

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While most 16-year-olds are thinking about homework or what to wear to prom, at least seven Missouri legislators remain convinced they should be allowed to sign marriage licenses and plan shotgun weddings.

Child marriage has been a longstanding embarrassment for the Show Me State. It wasn’t until 2018 that legislators got around to banning marriage for residents 14 years of age and younger — and even then, 50 lawmakers voted no.

Currently, teens as young as 16 can marry in Missouri with parental consent.

Earlier this year, Senator Holly Thompson Rehder (R-Bollinger), Senator Lauren Arthur
(D-Kansas City) and Representative Chris Dinkins (R-Lesterville), introduced a bill that would ban marriage for anyone in the state under the age of 18. But with less than a week left in the legislative session, the ban is likely to die thanks to seven people.

These members of a key house committee are standing in the way of the ban, according to the Kansas City Star. Despite bipartisan support, these members of the majority Republican committee have chosen to stand against any reforms that would help prevent minors (especially teen mothers) from being forced into marriages.

The bill passed the Missouri Senate with overwhelming support (one person voted in opposition) and has been sent to the House Government Efficiency and Downsizing committee. Its sister bill is awaiting a vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

It is unclear who on the committee makes up this opposition. Committee Chairman Jim Murphy (R-St. Louis County) did not respond to our questions.

From 2000-2020 (some of the most recently available statistics on the topic) approximately 8,151 children were married in Missouri alone, according to Unchained At Last, a nonprofit dedicated to ending child marriages. The majority of these cases (78 percent) involved young girls being wed to adult men.

In a state like Missouri that has a complete abortion ban, teens who become pregnant are more at risk for being coerced into marriage. But hey! We apparently think that’s just fine in Missouri, and far be it from lawmakers to feel any haste in cracking down on it.