Nebraska Bill Proposes Raising Legal Marriage Age to 18 without Exceptions

A new legislative proposal in Nebraska seeks to amend the state’s legal marriage age. The bill, presented to the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, proposes raising the minimum marriage age from 17 to 18, thereby eliminating the provision that allows parental or guardian consent for minors to marry.

Senator Wendy DeBoer, representing District 10 in northwest Omaha, introduced the bill. She describes its purpose as straightforward.

“As long as you’re a minor, your rights are limited, which means if you’re being forced into marriage, you have limited ways to get out of the situation,” DeBoer explained to the committee. She highlighted issues such as human trafficking and coercive control as being exacerbated by forced marriages.

The bill aims to reduce the risk of minors entering into unwanted marriages. DeBoer emphasized that the legislation is not intended to target consensual arranged marriages but rather to protect against forced unions.

“Typically, forced marriages occur through violence, threats, grooming, fraud or other similar methods, and children are more likely to be victims of forced marriages as they cannot file for protection orders against those forced them to marry,” DeBoer elaborated.

DeBoer illustrated her concerns with a hypothetical scenario: a 17-year-old girl whose parents are drug addicts is coerced into marriage for financial gain. In this example, the girl ends up being abused and trafficked.

“This is something which is possible under the current law, and it does happen,” she asserted.

Supporting the bill, Sarah Hanify, a social worker with the Social Work Advocacy Committee, expressed in a letter that state-level inaction contributes to dangerous power imbalances in marriages.

“As a social worker that has worked my entire career to increase protections for children, this bill is necessary and appropriate to ensure that children are being protected from the harm that child marriages bring,” Hanify stated.

She pointed out that child marriages predominantly affect young girls, leading to potential abuse, unplanned pregnancies, and adverse health and educational outcomes.

Despite the support, the bill faced opposition. “Unchained At Last,” an organization campaigning against child marriages, argued that the bill doesn’t address the issue comprehensively because it doesn’t align with Nebraska’s legal adulthood age of 19.

DeBoer defended the proposed age limit by referencing other legal responsibilities granted at 18, such as voting and military service. However, it’s noteworthy that in Nebraska, the legal age of majority is 19, while the age of sexual consent is 16.

A representative from Unchained At Last commented, “Minors who are not yet 19 cannot easily enter a domestic violence shelter, bring a legal action or even seek a protective order. LB984 as written would not protect 18-year-olds from the harms and dangers of underage marriage.”

Another opposition letter from Elle Hansen in Lincoln expressed concerns over religious freedom, suggesting that prohibiting marriage until 18, while allowing sexual consent at 16, is an infringement.

The committee has yet to take a decisive vote on the bill.