JEFFERSON CITY — The earliest age Missourians could get married would be 18 under a new proposal by two state lawmakers.
Missouri teenagers are currently allowed to marry at age 16 with parental consent, but state Sens. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, and Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, are sponsoring legislation to raise the age by two years.
At a committee hearing Monday, Rehder said that with her mother’s consent, she married her 21-year-old boyfriend at 15 and got pregnant four months later.
“It was only until much later that I realized that at 15 years old you really don’t have the mental capacity to make those type of decisions,†she said.
Arthur called raising the marriage age “a moral imperative that protects the innocence and potential of our youth.â€
Lauren Van Wagoner, a Kansas City resident, spoke in support of the bill and told her personal story about marrying her 21-year-old boyfriend at 17. She called her 12 years of marriage “a horror story.â€
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“I complied with my marriage because I didn’t see another option. I thought I was doing what was right by my religion,†said Van Wagoner. “The reality is, I wasn’t mature enough to make that decision.â€
Minors have limited legal rights, which makes it easy to force a child to stay in an abusive, dangerous marriage, said Matthew Huffman, chief public affairs officer for Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Minors face overwhelming “legal and practical barriers if they attempt to flee an abusive marriage,†he said.
“We have all kinds of limitations on age, whether it’s tanning beds or having your ears pierced,†said Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold. “So certainly whether you can enter into a legal contract like marriage, it seems appropriate that you’ve reached the age of majority.â€
The question of allowing minors to marry in Missouri is not new.
Last year, the issue garnered national attention after Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, said he knows a couple who married at ages 11 and 12 and are still together decades later.
Moon offered the anecdote during a committee hearing on his legislation, which led to a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors.
At that hearing, another lawmaker pointed out that Moon in 2018 voted to keep the minimum marriage at 15 when the issue came up for a vote.
Moon in 2018 said it was parents’ “fundamental right†to allow their minor children to enter into a marriage contract.
The Legislature ultimately raised the minimum marriage age to 16 in 2018. Before the change, minors could marry at 15 with a parent’s consent, or, alternatively, seek a court order at any age to receive a marriage license.
At the hearing Monday, only the Rev. Timothy Faber opposed the measure. When pressed by Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, on specific situations that might warrant keeping the minimum marriage age 16, Faber could not offer any examples.
“To close that totally just seems too much,†he said.
Faber was appointed as a member of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights by Gov. Mike Parson in 2021. He has since left the commission, according to online records kept by the state.
The legislation is Senate Bills 767 and 2.