Ohio law still allows minor girls to be married, though the law on child marriage was changed in 2019. A bipartisan bill seeks to do what 16 other states have done and shut the door to marriage by minors permanently.
Girls 17 and under can marry in Ohio if their spouse is no more than four years older and they get a court order. Only men over 18 can marry in Ohio. Sen. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Twp.) said it’s time to make it law that marriage is only for opposite sex couples over 18.
“For God's sakes, why wouldn't we do this? Even if this is a problem that seems to be declining in number, it's out of principle at this point," Blessing said.
He’s joined on the Senate Bill 341 by Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus).
"You can't do a lot of things until you're 18. And so why is it different that you can get married before you're 18?" DeMora said. "Once they get married, they're emancipated from their parents. And that means a minor becomes entirely financially just dependent on their spouse. I hope everyone sees the dangers this would cause."
Advocates for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault said these marriages make the spouse a girl’s legal guardian. They note girls under 18 usually can’t go to domestic violence shelters and they can't sign a lease, and they can't file for divorce or even retain an attorney. And they said that puts married girls at increased risk of abuse, rape and trafficking.
"When one spouse is a minor, the power imbalance is easier to exploit, harder to push back against, and harder to escape," said Maria York, policy director for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. "There's also national research that shows that marrying before 18 is associated with a higher risk of physical or sexual intimate partner violence compared to marrying as an adult."
Ohio resident Stephanie Lowry was married in 2001 a month after she’d turned 16, and was 16 weeks pregnant. Her husband was 19 and her mother, who was devoutly religious, supported the marriage. But it soon turned violent.
“I had to wait till I was 18 to end the marriage. However, leaving the marriage did not erase the harm that had already been done, and what followed was years of rebuilding. Being forced into marriage so young shaped every part of my life afterward," Lowry said. "I didn't survive because the system worked. I survived despite it. Child marriage made my life harder than it ever needed to be."
The sponsors said they're frustrated at the current law and admit they're confused by opposition to the idea.
"To be perfectly honest, I have no idea where the where the pushback would come on something like this. For me, it's it's cut and dried," Blessing said. "At the risk of putting my colleague in a bad spot, I don't even want to compromise on this. It should just be 18, period."
DeMora was more direct in his commitment to it: "Anybody that comes out against this bill is going to have my full Sicilian wrath."
The bill also continues Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage, which is currently not enforceable because of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 decision legalizing it. The case originated in Ohio when Jim Obergefell sued Ohio Department of Health Director Rick Hodges over the right to put his name on his husband's death certificate as his surviving spouse. But Ohio law still states that only marriage between one man and one woman is legally recognized, and voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2004. Activists who want to overturn that started gathering signatures for a ballot issue last month.
