The Oregon Senate has passed Senate Bill 548, a bipartisan effort to raise the minimum marriage age to 18, in a move aimed at protecting young Oregonians.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Mannix (OR-21), State Sen. David Brock Smith, (OR-1), and Sen. Janeen Sollman (OR-15) seeks to address concerns about the impact of child marriage on minors.
Currently, Oregon law allows 17-year-olds to marry, despite being unable to vote or purchase tobacco products. Between 2000 and 2021, an estimated 3,600 minors were married in Oregon.
Judicial approval is not required for a 17 year old to get married in Oregon; they only need the consent of one parent or guardian.
Unchained At Last, a New Jersey-based nonprofit estimated that 83 percent of minors in marriages were girls marrying men roughly four years older.
Underage marriage is a human rights violation, according to the United Nations Population Fund, a branch of the international peacekeeping group concerned with sexual health, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals call for ending child marriage by 2030. The United States is the only UN member state that has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
No American states receive an “A” or “B” ranking in terms of living up to key CRC standards, but 16 states are ranked “F”, 27 are ranked “D”, and 7 receive a “C” grade, according to Human Rights Watch.
Under Oregon law, minors are unable to consent to sex until they turn 18.
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At least 13 states have laws banning minors from getting married. Oregon is currently one of 10 states that leave the option open to 17-year-olds, according to Unchained At Last. Child marriage is legal in 37 states. The first time a state banned child marriage was in 2018.
Young brides are more likely to face poverty, domestic violence, and limited educational and career opportunities, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The bill’s supporters highlighted the links between forced child marriages and human trafficking. A study showed that 83% of underage marriages involved girls marrying men about four years older.
Sen. Sollman urged her colleagues to support the bill, saying, “Senate Bill 548 is a bipartisan and bicameral solution to help protect children of Oregon, and I urge an aye vote.”
However, some senators expressed concerns about unintended consequences. Sen. Robinson (OR-2) noted, “What worries me is that there are instances in which a 17-year-old really should get married. Stable families, it’s well known that children who grow up in families with two parents do much better. There are instances where two 17 year-olds or a 17 and 18 year-old would be better off if they just went ahead and got married.”
“What will be the unintended consequences? I was a little surprised when I went to look at the law, that if you’re under 17 it only takes one parent to sign off, but there’s nothing in the law that requires two people getting married to sign a marriage license. That, I think, is a mistake.”
Sen. Robinson suggested the law adds a clause where the two minors planning on getting married have to get interviewed by a judge to make sure they want to get married, and he voted no because of any unintended consequences of raising the age to 18.
The bill passed with a constitutional majority, reflecting a significant step towards aligning Oregon’s marriage laws with international human rights standards.
