This editorial was originally published in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel and was distributed by The Associated Press.
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West Virginia lawmakers are to be commended for overcoming the bizarre vote of the state Senate Judiciary Committee last week that rejected a child marriage ban. Although the 17-member Judiciary Committee might have believed they had stopped the measure, it was important enough to the rest of the members of the Legislature that they found a way to revive it.
And so, on Saturday, the House of Delegates passed 83-9 — without debate — a measure that will ban marriages outright for anyone age 15 or younger, require parental consent for those ages 16 or 17 who seek to marry, and require that, even in those marriages, the age gap must be no more than four years. The Senate had easily endorsed the bill a day earlier.
Good for Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for resurrecting the bill on the Senate floor Thursday and making sure it advanced, despite the committee’s attempt to kill it.
Although some opponents of the bill claimed child marriage is a way to “protect families,” according to The Associated Press, the reality is that such marriages are often forced on one person — and that person is disproportionately the girl. According to the Pew Research Center, of the 57,800 Americans ages 15-17 who were married in 2014, 55% were female. But West Virginia had the highest rate of child marriages among the states in 2014, at 7.1 per 1,000 people ages 15-17. And, according to state health statistics, between 2015 and 2019, there were 259 girls under age 18 married in West Virginia and just 52 boys under 18.
It’s easy to understand why lawmakers felt compelled to also include an age gap maximum in the law.
“This is a huge step to protecting our youngest children,” said Delegate Kayla Young, D-Kanawha.
She’s right. And, given the talk about protecting children and families by so many in the Legislature this session, it is appalling the small group of those who voted against the bill in committee sought to stop it. Thank goodness, the overwhelming majority in both bodies of the Legislature spotted the attempt and did the right thing anyway.
