A recent bill to amend South Dakota’s marriage laws has been introduced, but who is behind the effort? The legislation (SB156) would prohibit marriage before age 18, where currently in South Dakota a 16 or 17 year old could potentially get married if they have parental approval. Although the local voices in support of the bill have good intentions, a closer look at the national coalition reveals troubling details.
The national coalition members in support of the effort include:
• The Gates Foundation
• American Atheists
• National Center for Lesbian Rights
• Reproductive Rights Coalition
• Faith & Reproductive Freedom Coalition
• Feminist Majority Foundation
• Freedom from Religion Foundation
And more
The legislation (SB156) has multiple problems:
• It assumes that getting married young is inherently problematic, rather than recognizing that many couples get married young and build successful marriages
• It potentially increases abortive tendencies, as lack of partner support/commitment is a common motivator for abortion
• It overrides the parents, and says “the state knows best”
• It leaves the age of consent at 16, which means that South Dakota law would officially be saying “You can hook up, but you can’t get married”
• It does nothing to catch abusers who could be caught if we implemented safeguards like other states (counseling requirements, meeting with a judge, etc)
The arguments for the legislation include claims that:
• All marriages before age 18 are inherently “forced marriage”
• Marriage before age 18 “destroys nearly every aspect of American girls’ lives”
• Getting married before age 18 results in a “loss of reproductive rights” (ie. fewer abortions)
• A pregnant mother and her boyfriend can “easily co-parent outside of marriage”
(All quotations taken directly from Unchained at Last promotional materials produced for South Dakota)
In addition to the claims above, the proponents of SB156 use exaggeratory language to describe the marriage statistics in South Dakota. For example, they refer to a 17 year old bride as a “child” and an 18 year old groom as an “adult man” – this results in claims of “child brides marrying adult men.” In reality, the proponents could only point to one situation in the last 20 years in South Dakota where there was an extreme age gap between the bride and groom.
Looking at the South Dakota marriage statistics, we find that in the last 20 years just over 800 marriages occurred where one person was 16 or 17. The average age of their spouse is 21 years old – which means the average situation looks more like a 17 year old marrying a 21 year old. When looking at the details, we see that South Dakota doesn’t have a problem with “old men” marrying “young children” – rather, we have hundreds of examples of young couples getting married at an early age.
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Whenever evaluating a piece of legislation, asking the question “Who wants this?” will often result in a deeper understanding of the bill. We find the motivations, the purpose, and the reasoning behind it. When evaluating the national coalition behind SB156 and the arguments they are making, we are left with more questions than answers. South Dakota should think twice before adopting these changes to our marriage laws.
For a full analysis of the legislation, click here.
