South Dakota lawmakers kill bill that would change minimum age of marriage from 16 to 18

PIERRE — Despite being called a well-intentioned piece of legislation, South Dakota lawmakers Monday voted 8-5 to kill a bill that would have raised the age of marriage.

Sponsored by Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, HB 1154 would’ve changed the age of marriage from 16 to 18. Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds can get married with a parent’s consent, according to a law that was created in 1939 and then updated in 1993.

In her testimony, Wittman stated that between 2000 and 2020, 838 minors were married in South Dakota. Of that, 81% were girls being married to adult men. Wittman added that by voting on the bill Monday, lawmakers were sending a message that South Dakota is continuing to protect children by allowing them to build a solid foundation for their lives.

“Marriage is a solemn lifelong commitment that demands maturity, emotional readiness and life experience, qualities that are oftentimes lacking in individuals who are 16,” Wittman said.

Opponents, like Norman Woods from Family Voice Action, a conservative non-profit that prioritizes faith and traditional family norms, said that the bill would take away a parent’s right to allow their child to marry. He suggested that by raising the age of marriage, the state was taking a stance on premarital sex.

“Right now the age of consent here in South Dakota is 16, if you raise the marriage age to 18, you as a state would be saying, ‘You can hook up, but you can’t get married,’” Woods said.

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Lawmakers were hung up over the hypothetical of if a 17-year-old girl wanted to marry her 19-year-old boyfriend.

Wittman said it was never OK for a 17-year-old to get married, and instead the two should “push pause” and wait a year before making the commitment.

The bill would have created additional safeguards for young girls who may become vulnerable after their marriage doesn’t work out, Rep. Becky Drury, R-Rapid City, said in her motion to keep the bill alive for floor debate.

“There are a ton of examples that are horrible when a young woman gets married at age 16,” Drury said. “That it doesn’t work and then she’s emancipated, and she has very few options or very few places to go to help her because now she’s an adult and she has a small child. The older we can get this bar raised is a better protection.”

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Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, pushed back on the comparison that had been made during the debate that the state doesn’t allow minors to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.

“Beer and cigarettes are bad for you and that’s why we don’t let you use them until you’re 18 or 21. Marriage is good for you,” the House Majority Leader said, referencing the American Happiness Survey.

Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, said that maybe lawmakers should be focusing on raising the age of consent, not the age of marriage, if the goal was to crack down on sexual exploitation.

“If our concern is the sexual abuse of minor children, I think that’s the more appropriate aim rather than raising the age of consent for mariage,” he said.

Before the bill was killed, Rep. Erin Healy, D-Sioux Falls, looked to the future.

“One day we can get rid of this law so [these girls] can take the time that they need to find that right person in their life,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Child marriage remains legal in South Dakota at age 16