Trending
You’ve got to wonder what’s going on in Columbus that a measure as sensible as banning marriage for minors is having trouble getting traction in the statehouse.
State Senate Bill 341 to “repeal law that authorizes a person who is seventeen years of age to marry,” co-sponsored by state Sens. William DeMora, D-Columbus, and Louis Blessing, R-Colerain Township, was unanimously passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee back in June. But it was not on the full Senate’s agenda as of Tuesday.
There’s been no public opposition to the bill, a bipartisan group of lawmakers supports it, 18 other states (including Pennsylvania and Michigan) have already passed similar bills, and it’s just a commonsense way to protect young people in the same way we do with countless other laws.
Blessing told the Ohio Capital Journal he does not know who is blocking the legislation from advancing.
"My argument would simply be to just call this before a vote and let people vote your conscience on this," Blessing told the Capital Journal. "It's a simple bill. We've spent way too much time on this, and it should be done in lame duck."
According to an organization called Unchained At Last, which advocates for ending child marriages in the U.S., there have been more than 5,000 Ohioans married as minors since 2000. Most of them are girls being married to adult men.
"When a 17-year-old is expected to take the responsibility of a spouse or parent, their opportunity to focus on their own development is taken away," state Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, told the Capital Journal. "Young people who marry before adulthood often face the risk of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and exploitation."
Again, who on earth could be attempting to protect that?
When asked about the stalled measure, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said only that his caucus had not yet talked about the bill, and “I guess I can’t speculate.”
Perhaps he should.
DeMora and Blessing did the right thing by sponsoring this measure to protect Ohio children. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously did the right thing by passing it. Whoever is preventing it from further action needs to do some soul searching and then step aside. The entire General Assembly should get the chance to do the right thing, too.