Child marriage survivor Stephanie Lowry speaks during a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse. (Photo: Morgan Trau, WEWS.)
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill to ban child marriage in Ohio.
“No child should have to be as resilient as I am to reach adulthood,” said Stephanie Lowry, a child marriage survivor.
Instead of taking the driving test, going to the dance or walking down the hall to graduate from high school, some teenagers like Lowry took a different avenue.
“I was facing the hardships of being a teen mom at the age of 16, and being a wife only added to that,” she said.
After her father died, Lowry’s mother, a strict Jehovah’s Witness, forced her to marry a 19-year-old man who impregnated her.
“Marriage became the solution not for me, but for her,” she said. “It took the burden out of her life and put it on someone else.”
Since 2000, more than 5,000 children have been married as minors, according to Unchained At Last, an organization working to end child marriage, according to Department of Health data.
Unchained Fraidy Reiss, who was forced to marry a stranger when she was 19, explained that 50 17-year-olds were married between 2020 and 2024, the health department reported.
“It’s time to end human rights violations in Ohio; it’s time to end child marriage,” Reiss said. “Girls matter. Almost all the minors who get married here are girls married to adult men.”
Before 2019, there was no minimum age for marriage in Ohio.
Although the state recommended that girls could marry at age 16, there were exceptions at any age if the child received parental and court consent, according to the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network.
Still, 17-year-olds can marry someone up to four years older than them, provided the juvenile court approves.
“I was still a minor, so my husband became my legal guardian,” Lowry said.
As the marriage became abusive, Lowry found she had no resources.
Even with a ring on her finger, she was still a child in the eyes of the law.
“Most shelters don’t take minors,” she said, adding that they wanted to separate her and her child in foster care.
“I wasn’t able to file for divorce on my own or even sign a lease.”
State Sens. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, and Bill DeMora, R-Columbus, have introduced a bill that would change that.
“If you want to get married in Ohio, you have to be 18 or older,” Blessing said during a news conference to applause. “Period.”
There is a companion bill in the House that is also bipartisan.
State Reps. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, and Monica Robb Blasdel, R-New Waterford, will move it through the chamber.
Although this bill is bipartisan and has no public opponents, it may be the subject of an uphill battle.
Many pieces of legislation relating to domestic violence are being adopted years will passif they even make it that far.
After decades, Ohio won’t ban spousal rape until 2024.
How will lawmakers prevent its repeal?
“Bill and I are just two of 132 members of the General Assembly,” Blessing said. “There are no guarantees on that, of course, but again, something like this has to be cut and dried, and I have to imagine that the more this comes to light, the more I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of this issue.”
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, acknowledged that Democrats had to compromise with Republicans to enact any age restrictions at all during debate on prior legislation in 2018 and 2019.
“Sometimes incremental change is the best thing we can do to move something forward,” Antonio said.
We asked lawmakers why there is so much opposition.
Blessing said he wasn’t sure, but DeMora added he was looking forward to opponents testifying.
“I’m just going to yell at them because it’s ridiculous,” DeMora said.
“I am passionate. I am trying to be diplomatic during this press conference, but anyone who opposes this bill will face my full Sicilian wrath.”
Although no public opponents have come forward, some religious activists have quietly argued that child marriage should be allowed in cases of teenage pregnancy.
“Child marriage has made my life more difficult than ever,” Lowry said. “It removed the ability to choose at the exact moment I needed protection the most.”
Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said he was not familiar with the legislation but said the chamber would “probably pass it.”
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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