Survivors and advocates press Senate Judiciary Committee to ban child marriage in Ohio
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Summary
Survivors, domestic‑violence advocates and national organizations urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass SB 341 to eliminate judicial and close‑in‑age exceptions and set 18 as the minimum marriage age, citing forced‑marriage harms, emancipation consequences and trafficking risks.
Survivors and advocates told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Senate Bill 341 should be amended to end child marriage in Ohio by eliminating exceptions and setting 18 as the minimum marriage age.
Frady Reese, founder and executive director of Unchained At Last and a survivor of forced marriage, urged lawmakers to "pass this simple common sense legislation that costs nothing, harms no one, and ends a human rights abuse," saying the 2019 changes left a judicial loophole that still allows minors to be married. "The judicial review process ... does not mitigate the risk of a forced marriage," Reese said, adding that survivors often lie to judges out of fear.
Becca Powell, director of advocacy and outreach for Unchained At Last, described statutory consequences of marriage for minors, including automatic emancipation and the resulting loss of parental financial support and barriers to shelter access. She told the committee that emancipation can create incentives for parents to force a child into marriage and that the state system often lacks appropriate shelter or counseling pathways for emancipated minors.
Multiple service providers and survivors echoed similar concerns. Michelle Hanash of the AHA Foundation said child marriage "is a legal trap" because minors lack the adult legal rights needed to flee abuse or retain counsel; Lisa DeGeeter of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network emphasized that existing shelter systems often cannot take emancipated minors and that delays in services can be deadly. Survivor Stephanie Lowery described being forced into marriage at 16 and said the legal and economic consequences followed her into adulthood.
Witnesses presented data and state comparisons: advocates noted that between 2020 and 2024, 53 minors were entered into marriage in Ohio under the current law and that many states have moved to ban child marriage outright. Zonta International and other groups told the committee Ohio remains a destination state for child marriage because of permissive exceptions in current law.
Committee members took testimony and recorded the session as the second hearing on SB 341; sponsors and witnesses urged lawmakers to remove exceptions and make the marriage age 18 with no judicial or parental exceptions. No committee vote on the bill occurred at this session.
