Missouri Senate once again overwhelmingly approves child marriage ban

by Clara Bates, Missouri Independent
March 6, 2025

Marriage would be banned for anyone under 18 under a law that advanced out of the Missouri Senate Thursday. 

Under current Missouri law, anyone under 16 is prohibited from getting married. But 16 and 17 year olds can get married with parental consent to anyone under 21. 

The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Tracy McCreery, would ban child marriage outright. State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, filed similar legislation. 

“The current marriage laws incentivize and legalize the trafficking of minors under the guise of marriage,” McCreery said Thursday.

The vote Thursday was 32 to 1. The only no vote was state Sen. Mike Moon, a Republican from Ash Grove. 

In 2023, Moon garnered national attention when he said: “Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married.”

There was no opposition voiced in the public hearing in January, or the Senate debates this week. 

The bill now heads to the House for consideration.

Last year, the bill cleared the Senate in April with only Moon in opposition.  It was stalled by a small group of Republican critics in a House committee, who said it would constitute government overreach and infringe on parental rights. After the bill finally passed out of that committee, when several of those critics were not present for the vote, it was never brought up in the House for a vote. 

“I’m honored to pick up where we left off last year and to get this legislation passed into law,” McCreery said during Monday’s Senate debate.

Those in favor of the ban argue child marriage is coercive and can transform into forced marriage, especially because children lack the legal rights of adulthood. 

“This is not only a legislative imperative, but also a moral one,” McCreery said, pointing to data showing those married as children are at a higher risk of mental and physical health issues, isolation, poverty, and intimate partner abuse.

Others in favor at the public hearing in January included women who had been forced into marriage as children and advocates against domestic violence and child abuse. No one testified in opposition.

Until the legislature voted to raise the minimum marriage age to 16 in 2018, Missouri had among the most lenient child marriage laws in the nation — making it  an especially popular state for 15-year-olds to travel to be married.

Despite the 2018 change, Missouri law still does not align with international human rights standards, which set the minimum age at 18. Activists argued at the time Missouri’s new law would continue to leave 16 and 17-year-olds vulnerable to potential coercion.

Brattin said Monday during Senate debate that initially he’d been against the ban because he knew family members who’d been married young and had long, successful marriages.

“And it was difficult to kind of come to the realization that that’s not where we’re at any longer, that yesterday was yesterday, and this is today,” Brattin said. “…I’ve come around completely, so much so that I’ve even sponsored the parallel bill that you have.” 

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

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