Democrat Stops Bill to End Child Marriage in Washington

• The state of Washington is one of 43 in the U.S. that allow children to get married.
• A bill to end child marriage in Washington has been tabled until 2024 after it was held up in the Senate Law and Justice Committee.
• "I look forward to giving it a hearing next session," state Senator Manka Dhingra, who chairs the panel, told The Seattle Times.

A state bill ending child marriage in Washington has been tabled until 2024 after a Democratic state senator opted to pass other pieces of legislation this year.

House Bill 1455 passed the Washington House in a unanimous vote in early March, but the bill stalled in the Senate, unable to meet the April 23 legislative deadline to get voted out of the Senate Law and Justice Committee.

Democratic state Senator Manka Dhingra, who chairs the panel, told The Seattle Times that after evaluating the 65 bills sent to her committee, and narrowing down which needed to pass this year and which needed to wait, HB 1455 would have to wait until lawmakers convene early next year. Without moving past the committee, the bill cannot go to a Senate floor vote.

Washington is one of 43 states that allow children to get married, according to Unchained At Last, an organization that advocates against child marriage. It is also one of six states that do not specify an age minimum, meaning a child at any age could get married, with parental consent at age 17 or a judge's approval if younger. Comparably, in other states where children are allowed to marry, the minimum age is between 15 and 17.

Other states have recently moved to raise the minimum marrying age. Data from Unchained At Last show that 19 states have passed bills limiting child marriage, and 10 states, including Washington, have introduced bills seeking to ban all marriages before 18 years of age.

Washington's bill, however, will have to wait until the next legislative session.

"This session, the Law & Justice Committee was referred 174 bills, which was over 50 bills more than any other policy committee in the Senate," Dhingra told Newsweek in a statement. "The simple math of the situation meant that many important bills were not able to get a hearing this year. I know the sponsors will continue working on this legislation, and it will definitely have a hearing next session."

If the next year trends as the last year of available data suggest, there could be roughly 68 minors being wed before the bill comes back before the lawmakers.

Washington Department of Health data shared with Newsweek shows that 4,465 children were married in Washington between 2000 and 2014 and that another 366 are estimated to have been married between 2015 and 2018. Of those marriages, 97 percent involved 17-year-olds, two percent were 16-year-olds and one percent were 15-year-olds.

The figures shared by Unchained At Last show that girls in Washington are disproportionately impacted by child marriages. All the child marriages involving 16-year-olds and 15-year-olds were among girls, and while 10 percent of all child marriages were between a minor boy and an adult woman, marriages between a minor girl and an adult man accounted for 80 percent of all child marriages.

"Even the most mature teen, even a day before their 18th birthday, cannot easily say no to a forced marriage, because of their limited legal rights," Fraidy Reiss, the founder and executive director of Unchained At Last, told Newsweek. "Every day that the current, archaic laws remain on the books is another day that minors—mostly girls—can be forced into an unwanted marriage and subjected to a human rights abuse."

Those seeking a marriage license in Washington need to sign affidavits to prove they are at least 18 years old, but 17-year-olds can also obtain a license with written parental consent and anyone younger can do so if a superior court judge waives the age requirement.

Update 4/19/23, 9:21 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Dhingra.