Committee passes bill aimed at preventing child marriage March 26, 2026 Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, speaks on Senate Bill 156 during Thursday’s meeting of the House Families and Children Committee. A high-resolution photo can be found here. FRANKFORT — Legislation aimed at eli minating child marriage in Kentucky advanced Thursday from the House Families and Children Committee. Senate Bill 156 would raise the legal age for marriage to 18 without exception, closing a provision in current law that allows 17-year-olds to marry in certain cases. Supporters say the change would strengthen protections for minors and prevent situations involving coercion, abuse or exploitation. Under existing law, a 17-year-old may marry with judicial consent following an investigation into potential abuse. Lawmakers backing the bill argue that this process still leaves room for vulnerable minors to be placed in harmful situations and creates inconsistencies in how cases are handled. Bill sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, said the proposal builds on earlier efforts to address child marriage in Kentucky. “This bill builds on the foundation we laid in 2018. It strengthens enforcement. It increases accountability. It improves training and clarity for officials responsible for issuing and recording marriage licenses, and it closes the gaps that predators continue to exploit,” she said. Advocates told lawmakers that, while reforms have been made in recent years, underage marriage continues to occur. The legislation would remove remaining loopholes by requiring all individuals to be at least 18 to marry, regardless of circumstances. Donna Simmons, founder of the Revive Collective, testified before the committee and shared her experience with multi-generational child marriage. Simmons described how her mother was married at a young age, a cycle that continued into her own life. Starting at 14, Simmons said she was placed in situations involving an adult man and later married him in Tennessee with parental consent at 16. She told lawmakers the relationship led to a miscarriage, exploitation and long-term legal challenges after she left, including losing custody of her child and being required to pay child support. “My credibility, my education, my body and my income, and even my child has been ripped away from me and given to my rapist, who’s hidden his offenses behind a marriage license legally.” Simmons said that it isn’t right for children to miss out on childhood and education due to abusive situations involving adults. “Let us not continue to legally allow children to be subjected to an interruption in their process of development, and let us begin giving them full childhoods that they do not have to spend decades of life recovering from,” she said. Rep. Kim Holloway, R-Mayfield, asked how the bill would apply in cases involving teen pregnancy or emancipated minors. Adams said emancipated minors would be treated separately, as they are granted the legal rights of adults. Simmons added that the bill would prevent marriage as a response to teen pregnancy, which she said can trap young people in harmful situations. “When I was 16 and I had the miscarriage, I was not able to consent to my own medical care as a married minor. I had to wait for my husband, who again was in his 30s, to decide that I could get medical treatment, and therefore I almost died,” she said. “So many survivors have shared the same experience. They didn’t have access to child protective services because they’re no longer considered a minor, but they also do not have enumerated rights as an adult. So, they fall into this legal gray area without any protection.” Adams emphasized that underage marriage is still occurring in Kentucky despite existing laws and said removing the exception for 17-year-olds would ensure stronger, more consistent protections for minors. “What we did back in 2018, we thought that we had sufficiently covered it with that caveat that if you are 17, you can get married if you go before a court and you meet certain parameters,” she said. “Unfortunately, what we have found is that Kentucky is not doing those things, which is why we’re having to close that 17-year-old loophole.” Rep. Michael Sarge Pollock, R-Campbellsville, noted that his parents married at 16 and 17 due to a teen pregnancy but said couples who truly want to marry can wait until adulthood. “When you share the purpose and intent behind this bill, and that is to protect our children,” he said, “obviously, if they’re truly loving each other, they can wait another 6 months or 8 months or whatever the case might be.” Rep. Daniel Elliott, R-Danville, asked how many other states have enacted similar laws. Simmons pointed to growing national efforts to end child marriage and emphasized the importance of Kentucky aligning with those changes. “We bring this up because a bill is only going to be as good as proximity to the states around it, and that is one of the reasons it is so critical for us to place focus on achieving this in Kentucky,” she said. “Yes, for Kentuckians, but for children of neighboring states who may not be able to get that license there but may try to take advantage of lax laws in other areas.” The bill passed the committee on a 13-0 vote and now heads to the House floor. The post Committee passes bill aimed at preventing child marriage appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less