Despite stiff Republican opposition Oklahoma finally bans child marriage, with a single vote deciding it

Oklahoma Republicans will be gnashing their teeth in anger today as, despite their best efforts, they’re no longer allowed to take a child as their bride.

The fiercely contested Senate Bill 504 is now law as of today, meaning the minimum age for marriage in Oklahoma is set at 18, exceptions allowing parents to marry off their underage children if they so desire are removed, and it is illegal for adults to marry children.

The Oklahoma Senate passed this bill with a unanimous vote back in March, with both Republicans and Democrats agreeing that the issue was important. In the Senate, bill author Sen. Warren Hamilton explained the measure is partly in response to law enforcement telling him about cases in which “significantly older men have preyed on minors“.

The bill apparently rubbed House Republicans the wrong way, as they “fiercely opposed” banning child marriage, with the measure eventually passing the House 51-36 last week, meaning just a single vote decided it. So, why would Republicans fight so hard for the right for kids to marry adults? Well, given the revelations over the last few months, I can think of a couple of reasons…

The government stripping rights from parents?

Republican David Hardin attempted to justify the Republican opposition, going out of his way to clarify that despite battling to keep child marriage legal, “I am not an advocate for child marriage”.

Hardin explains that his issue is that this erodes parental consent. After all, why shouldn’t a teenager’s mom or dad marry off one of their kids? They’re their kids, they should be able to do what they want with them!

“SB 504, while well-intentioned, does not accomplish the goals the author seeks. It allows the government to once again strip more rights away from parents and insert more control over family dynamics.”

Democratic Rep. Michelle McCane dismissed this, defending the ban:

“So we’re going to say that a child can seek a marriage and get married – a lifetime commitment that they cannot get out of until they’re 18 – but we won’t allow them to see the doctor on their own. We won’t allow them to buy a house on their own. We won’t allow them to finance a car on their own, because we know that they are children, that they’re still developing, that they need more time (and) experience in the world to make these types of decisions.”

The approved bill was then sent to the Governor’s desk and is now law, with Oklahoma joining Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, and Missouri, all of which have banned child marriage in recent years.

So, if you want to take a child bride, you’ll have to settle for picking one that lives in one of the 34 states in which it’s still very much legal.