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Committee hears testimony on bill to ban marriage under 18, survivors urge passage
Summary
A House committee heard hours of testimony in support of House Bill 1200, which would prohibit marriage for people under 18 in Missouri. Survivors and advocates told personal stories of abuse and trafficking; committee members asked about religious rights, emancipation and legal gaps.
Senator Reuter presented House Bill 1200 to the House Committee on Children and Families on the bill to prohibit marriage under the age of 18 in Missouri and answered lawmakers’ questions before a public hearing filled with survivor testimony.
The bill would remove the current parental-consent exception that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to marry in Missouri. Supporters told the committee the current law leaves many minors without legal recourse, increases their vulnerability to trafficking and long-term economic harm, and that existing close-in-age or pregnancy exceptions do not adequately protect young people.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Reuter, told the committee the proposal “prohibits marriage before the age of 18 under any circumstances,” and explained concerns about divorce access and emancipation under current law. “I know that today if you wanted to get married in Missouri, you could get married between the ages of 16 and 18 with a parental consent, and this takes away that exception,” Reuter said.
The hearing focused on the risks advocates say child marriage creates. Frady Reese, founder of the nonprofit Unchained At Last and a self-described survivor of forced marriage, told committee…
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