The legal age to marry would increase to 18 years old under a measure unanimously advanced Wednesday by the Oklahoma Senate.
Senate Bill 504, authored by Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, would remove all exceptions for a person under 18 to marry.
Hamilton said legislation he authored last year increased the age of sexual consent to 18.
“However, we still have a loophole in the law that allows the very thing we corrected with age of consent under the guise of holy matrimony,” he said. “And this bill seeks to close that loophole.”
Sen. Jonathan Wingard, R-Ada, asked if the measure would block the recognition of marriages that take place in other states.
Hamilton said it would not, but that issue could be addressed when the House considers the measure.
Wingard said he wondered if it would prevent minors from getting married in another state and then returning to Oklahoma.
“This decision to enter into a lifelong covenant is one that is of great magnitude and has consequences,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said law enforcement told him about cases where significantly older men have preyed on minors, resulting in the girls being trafficked.
Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, questioned the need to remove the exceptions.
Existing law allows youth in Oklahoma to marry with the permission of their parent or guardian or under the supervision of a district court judge. Children under 16 can marry with the court’s permission to settle “a suit for seduction or paternity,” if there’s an unmarried pregnancy or a girl has “given birth to an illegitimate child.”
Deevers said he has two young men who live in his house. If they had sought his permission to marry before they turned 18, he would have granted it, he said.
He said his 17-year-old is currently engaged but plans to wait to marry until his fiancee turns 18.
Deevers asked if marriages between minors would be dissolved or grandfathered in.
Hamilton said the measure would not impact marriages between minors who were married before Nov. 1, when the law takes effect.
It passed by a vote of 45-0 and heads to the House for approval.
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