OLYMPIA, Washington. — A bill setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage in Washington state is headed to the governor’s desk for signature.
State lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate passed House Bill 1455 this session after the measure stalled in the Senate last year and other bills failed to gain traction in recent years.
This year, the House passed it unanimously on the first day of its session. On Friday, the Senate voted 48 to 1 in favor of the bill. Republican Sen. Jeff Holy of Spokane cast the lone “no” vote.
Supporters of such legislation say it would reduce domestic violence and unwanted pregnancies and improve the lives of teenagers.
“I just think we need to stop the generational trauma of people being forced into a lifestyle or marriage that they are not capable of,” Vancouver Democrat Monica Stonier, who introduced the measure, told The Seattle Times. .
According to the nonprofit Unchained At Last, as of 2017, marriage for people under the age of 18 was legal in all fifty U.S. states. Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 children as young as ten years old got married in the US. Girls usually married adult men, the organization said.
According to the organization, 5,048 people under the age of 18 got married in Washington state between 2000 and 2021. According to Unchained At Last, in most cases, parents force their children to get married.
Currently, 17-year-olds in Washington state can get married with parental consent, and those under 17 need a judge’s approval.
The minimum marriage age in Oregon is 17, while in Idaho the minimum age is 16, the organization said.
If Gov. Jay Inslee signs the bill, which is expected to happen, it would go into effect in June. Ten other states have banned marriages for people under the age of 18, including Minnesota and New York.