INDIANAPOLIS – A bill banning 15-year-olds from getting married in Indiana is alive again at the statehouse.

Advocates for child sex abuse victims say some predators have figured out marrying their victims gives them legal cover, and seek out states with low minimums. Last month, a House committee heard from a parade of women whose parents forced them as teenagers to marry their molesters. But a bill to raise the minimum age to 17 got sidetracked by an argument over formally repealing Indiana’s ban on same-sex marriage.

That procedural wrangle has been resolved, but in the time it took to restart the process, the age bill has been modified. The House should vote Monday or Tuesday on raising the age to 16, not 17. Granger Representative Dale DeVon (R) says some of his constituents would like to see the age raised all the way to 18, but legislators felt the bill needs to be consistent with Indiana’s age of consent to sex, which is 16.

DeVon says it’s only recently that legislators have begun to dig into the issues surrounding human trafficking. He says he’s hopeful the 16-year-old limit will be enough to discourage predators, but says legislators need to keep monitoring the issue and see how effective the law is.

 

 

But getting the law passed isn’t a given. The delay in getting the bill through the House means the Senate hasn’t had a chance to consider it. President Pro Tem Rod Bray (R-Martinsville) said last week he wasn’t even aware of the bill. Legislators can be reluctant to approve bills that have only received public hearings in one chamber, and this year’s short session means the Senate would have only a week to study the bill.

 

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