LEGISLATIVE WATCH WYOMING: Senate Approves Bill Establishing Minimum Age Requirement for Marriages

The Senate on Thursday advanced a bill that would set a minimum age limit for marriage in Wyoming.

Senators voted 23-7 for House Bill 7, also known as “Underage marriage-amendments,” which mandates that persons getting married must be at least 18 years old (except in a few cases) and prohibits marriages for those under the age of 16.

“It certainly is a problem; I think it’s probably well hidden,” Sen. Tara Nethercott (R-Cheyenne), who voted in favor of the bill, said about underage marriages. “But if you don’t believe that the marriage of a 14-year-old girl is not in some form exploitation because I assure you, it is not the fantasy of two teenagers who fall in love. It is much different and much more exploitive…. This body is committed to the protection of children from exploitation.”