Utah Legislature approves bill forbidding minors from marrying someone four years older
The Utah Legislature has passed a bill banning minors from marrying a person older than them by four or more years. Poised to become law, the bill now awaits Gov. Spencer Cox's signature.
The legislation tightens the state code, which establishes that Utahns of 16 or 17 years old may marry if they obtain signed consent of a parent or guardian in addition to permission from a local juvenile judge. The current law forbids the approval of a minor's marriage to someone who is seven years older.
There wasn't much debate over SB76, sponsored by Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City. The last vote on Thursday on the House floor was unanimous, even when a freshman lawmaker cast doubt on it.
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Rep. Nicholeen Peck, R-Tooele, spoke about her personal experience, being engaged at 18 to a man six years older than her, which, she said, made her struggle on the vote.
'When I look at this and we're moving it from seven years to four years, even though they are a minor, so they would maybe be 17 or something, but I still think I don't know if we might be tightening it down too far for the normal circumstances,' Peck said on Thursday. 'I know we're trying to come up with a solution for some of these really hard, younger person things, too. But anyway, I just want to throw that out to the conversation on this, in case it helped anyone with a decision.'
Utah bill would further restrict teenage marriages, lower legal age gap to 4 years
Rep. Ariel Defay, R-Kaysville, the House floor sponsor of the bill, clarified that the proposal would apply to minors. Those 18 years or older wouldn't need permission from a juvenile court to get a marriage license.
'I think four years is a reasonable measure. Really, we're talking about a 17 year old,' Defay said. 'If they had someone who was a few years older than four years in gap in age, they could either wait until they are 18 or they can go to another state, and receive that permission.'
Peck initially voted no on the bill on Thursday, but then changed her vote to approve the bill.
Defay reiterated during her presentation that the bill intends to protect Utah minors from coercion and trafficking. In addition to the age restriction, the legislation creates a 72-hour cooling off period between the marriage application and the issuance of permission from the court.
The bill had the support of a member of the Utah chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who argued that data shows that child marriage sometimes is used to cover up statutory rape and trafficking.
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