Legislative panel shoots down South Dakota bill to raise the age for marriage to 18

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds call still wed in South Dakota after a legislative committee shot down an effort to raise the age of marriage to 18

PIERRE, S.D. -- Sixteen- and 17-year-olds call still wed in South Dakota after a legislative committee shot down an effort to raise the age of marriage to 18.

The House State Affairs Committee on Monday voted 8-5 to reject the bill and let stand the current law, which lets 16- and 17-year-olds marry if they have the consent of a parent or guardian, KELO-TV reported.

“The statistics speak volumes,” the prime sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kadyn Wittman, of Sioux Falls, told the committee. Between 2000 and 2020, 838 minors got married in South Dakota, according to the state Office of Vital Records, and 81% were minor girls being wed to adult men, she said.

But Republican Rep. Gary Cammack, of Union Center, said he wed his wife when she was 17 and their marriage has lasted 52 years. He said the state's existing guardrails should be sufficient.

Norman Woods of South Dakota Family Voice Action said it doesn't make sense to raise the age for marriage if the age of consent in South Dakota remains at 16.