CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia will no longer allow children under the age of 16 to marry, after the governor signed a compromise bill Wednesday.
A law signed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice continues to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with restrictions. Under the new law, minors must seek parental consent and cannot marry anyone older than four years. Existing legal marriages, and those performed in other countries, are not affected.
Previously, anyone younger than 16 could marry with a judge’s waiver.
A similar bill to ban child marriage has been proposed in recent years but has not gained traction.
Some Democrats, including the bill’s sponsor, Del. Kayla Young of Kanawha County, have hoped to eliminate child marriage altogether. Some Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature talked about how they or their parents were married before adulthood and said state recognition of those relationships helps keep families together.
Young said he had to resolve the issue with his Republican colleagues to secure a minimum age for marriage, and celebrated the aspect of the Bill that prohibits a large age gap.
Supporters of the law say it reduces domestic violence, unwanted pregnancies and improves the lives of teenagers.
West Virginia has the highest rate of child marriages among the states, according to the Pew Research Center. There were about seven marriages for every 1,000 15- to 17-year-olds in West Virginia in data collected from 2010 to 2014, compared with about 4.6 marriages per 1,000 for the same age group nationwide. More recent figures are not available.
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This story has been updated to correct the numbers for teen marriages in West Virginia.