A bill that would have made it illegal for minors to get married in West Virginia was shot down in a legislative committee on Wednesday night.
A week after the House of Delegates passed the bill, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is mostly made up of Republicans, voted 9-8 against it.
The bill’s main sponsor, Democratic Del. Kayla Young of Kanawha County, spoke briefly in front of the committee before the vote. She said that in the state, there have been more than 3,600 marriages with one or more children since the year 2000.
In West Virginia, children as young as 16 can get married if their parents agree. Everyone younger than that must also get a waiver from a judge.
Young wrote on Twitter after the vote, “For now, there will be no floor for the age of marriage in WV, which puts our kids in danger.”
Some people who are against the bill have said that teenagers getting married is a normal thing in West Virginia.
Former federal prosecutor and Republican senator from Kanawha County, Mike Stuart, voted with the majority. He said that his vote “wasn’t a vote against women.” He said that his mother got married when she was 16 years old, and that he was born six months later. I’m the luckiest person on earth.”
The bill would have made 18 the legal age of consent and taken away a minor’s ability to get permission from their parents, legal guardians, or the court. Legal marriages that were already done, even in other states, would not have been affected.
The nonprofit group Unchained At Last, which works to end forced and child marriage, says that since 2018, seven states have made 18 the minimum age for marriage. Supporters of this kind of law say that it cuts down on domestic violence and unintended pregnancies and makes teens’ lives better.
Even though there aren’t any recent numbers, the Pew Research Center says that in 2014, West Virginia had the most child marriages of any state, with an average of 7.1 marriages for every 1,000 children ages 15 to 17.
