JEFFERSON CITY — State Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Scott City, and Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, will be holding a media availability at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 13 to discuss Senate Bill 767, which would prohibit marriage for individuals under the age of 18 in Missouri.
Senator Thompson Rehder was married at age 15 and is urging her fellow lawmakers to ban child marriage. Currently under Missouri law, a parent may enter a 16- or 17-year-old into marriage with nothing more than a notarized signature – with no input from the teen and no recourse if he or she does not want to marry.
Senator Thompson Rehder and Sen. Arthur’s bipartisan legislation would make the legal marriage age 18 years old, with no exceptions.
“Marrying at only 15 years old, I can say firsthand how wrong it is to be married and be a child at the same time. Women have so much more opportunity than they did 50 years ago. This is a practice that should end now,” said Sen. Thompson Rehder.
Senator Arthur said no minor should be subjected to what the U.S. State Department calls a human rights abuse.
“Nearly all of the thousands of minors married recently in Missouri were girls wed to adult men,” Sen. Arthur said. “Our girls deserve better.”
Wednesday’s media availability will take place in the Senate Chamber Bingham Side Gallery, located on the 3rd floor of the Missouri State Capitol.