The House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to support raising the minimum age for marriage in Arkansas to 17.
Under current law, children between 16 and 18 must get consent from their parents to marry. However, if the girl is pregnant, the law sets no minimum age for her to get married with a judge's permission.
Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said she looked at Arkansas' marriage laws after reading a story about a child bride in Florida, which passed similar legislation to raise the marriage age to 17.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
Flowers said she was shocked by statistics from the Department of Health. More than 8,229 girls and 1,320 boys age 17 or under have been married in Arkansas since 1999. Girls as young 13, 12 and in one case even 10 have been married in the state in the past 20 years.
"As long as we allow for that, we run the risk of endangering children," Flowers said. "Without the validation of marriage, it's rape."
Without dissent, the committee sent the bill to the House.
-- John Moritz