Ohio State Building. (Photo: Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
Ohio lawmakers returned home for the holidays without passing a bill banning child marriage.
The Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee passed unanimously Ohio Senate Bill 341 last Wednesday, but the bill was not brought to a vote in the Senate later that day.
Ohio Republican Party Leaders Differ on Whether Child Marriage Should Be a ‘Debate’
“We had a lot of other bills that we’re going to pass that came out of committee this week. That’s probably something that’s going to be brought up at some point this session,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said when asked why the bill wasn’t brought to a vote.
Under current Ohio law, 17-year-olds can marry someone up to four years older than them, as long as the juvenile court approves. This bill would require Ohioans to be at least 18 years of age to get married.
State senators Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, and Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., introduced the bipartisan bill earlier this year. The bill had no public opponents, but it was stuck in committee for some time.
“The House could add a success sequence, which I think is completely absurd, but this House can’t pass a bill banning underage marriage, so I don’t see how we could somehow justify one and not justify the other,” DeMora said, referring to the Ohio House’s addition success sequence for the recently passed law.
More than 5,000 children in Ohio were married as minors since 2000, and nationwide, nearly 300,000 minors were married between 2000 and 2018. Finally freedan organization working to end child marriage.
“It is simply unbelievable that a bipartisan bill based on common sense that attracts no public opposition, that costs nothing, has a price tag of $0, will harm no one but the disgusting men who prey on teenage girls. It is absolutely astonishing that a bill like this is not passed,” said Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director of Unchained At Last.
She said there was so much hope when the bill passed out of committee on Wednesday, but that hope quickly turned to “not only disappointment, hurt and shock” when the bill was not on the Senate agenda.
“It is a shame for Ohio legislators to return home for the summer to enjoy the holidays when girls in Ohio can be legally trafficked under the guise of marriage and placed in a form of modern-day slavery,” Reiss said.
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said she didn’t know why the bill banning child marriage wasn’t brought to a vote.
“I think it goes without saying,” she said. “I think it’s a shame that we didn’t introduce the issue and just passed it. I know I could come up with some creative ways to get it passed by just attaching it to some other bill, so we’re hoping that maybe that will happen.”
She said there appears to be some resistance from the Republican caucus because the resolution hasn’t been passed yet.
“I really don’t know,” she said. “Clearly someone has some issues with this, and that’s a real shame.”
Seventeen states According to Unchained At Last, there is a law against child marriage.
Ohio lawmakers are on break now and will return after the November election. Any bill that is not passed by the end of the year must be re-introduced to the fresh General Assembly for consideration.
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