The fight against forced child marriage continues in Ohio

Advocates and survivors are urging Ohio lawmakers to pass bipartisan legislation that would ban all marriage before age 18, no exceptions. However, despite growing support, legislators have yet to vote on the bill. Currently, 17-year-olds can still legally marry in Ohio under certain conditions. Critics warn the law doesn’t just leave teenagers unprotected and extremely vulnerable to coercion, it covers up sex trafficking under the guise of marriage. 

Current laws trapping children in abuse 

Senate Bill 341 would raise Ohio’s legal marriage age to 18 with no exceptions. Research as well as survivor stories show that child marriage put children at risk of forced marriage, exploitation, and abuse. Indeed, in addition to potential power imbalances, child marriage creates serious legal and safety risks for minors.

Stephanie Lowry, a survivor from Ohio, said she was forced to marry a 19-year-old man when she was 16 years old and pregnant. Her experience is one of many shared by child marriage survivors in an effort to urging lawmakers to act. 

Lowry and Fraidy Reiss, survivor and founder of Unchained at Last, told The Columbus Dispatch: 

Girls are the ones who are suffering the heartbreaking consequences of Ohio legislators’ intransigence. Current marriage-age laws legalize and incentivize the trafficking of teens under the guise of marriage. 

According to data analyzed by Unchained At Last, more than 5,000 teenagers were married in Ohio between 2000 and 2024. And about 90% were minor girls married to adult men. Rights groups and survivors argue that these marriages may look fine on paper, but in reality, they are not always voluntary. And because minors have limited legal rights, teenagers may struggle to escape forced marriages or abusive situations. Minors cannot easily sign legal contracts, file independent legal actions or access domestic violence shelters without an adult. Advocates say this creates what they describe as a “legal trap.” 

Fighting for children’s rights state by state

Ohio now stands increasingly isolated as more states move to ban child marriage completely. Advocates point out that every state east and north of Pennsylvania has already prohibited marriage before age 18.

In recent years, more states are moving toward ending child marriage. Oklahoma recently became the 17th state to do so. But the fight has not been easy. Most recently, a Virginia state senator was recorded defending voting against the bill that eventually banned child marriage in his state. His reasoning? “We need more families, not less…”  

It’s a chilling lack of concern about human rights abuse or modern slavery. Even the US State Department has warned that marriage before 18 can severely affect girls’ education, health, economic opportunities and safety. 

A recent report from Unchained at Last and Equality Now put it this way: 

Child marriage strips children of their bodily autonomy and freedom, legitimizes statutory rape and child sexual abuse under the guise of marriage, and exposes them to coercion that they lack the legal capacity to resist. 

Importantly, Senate Bill 341 has bipartisan backing. Republican Senator Louis Blessing and Democratic Senator Bill DeMora introduced the legislation together. And dozens of survivors of child marriage, experts and advocates have testified in strong support of the bill. Notably, no members of the public have testified against the bill during hearings.

However, despite that support, advocates say lawmakers are refusing to vote.  

We need your help to help end child marriage everywhere 

Freedom United stands beside survivors and Unchained at Last in demanding Ohio legislators to pass SB341 today and ban child marriage with no exceptions. Sign our petition and add your voice to those demanding a stop to forced child marriage in the US.