A Missouri lawmaker sparked backlash after claiming a bill to raise the state's minimum marriage age to 18 would lead to a spike in abortions, as the measure moved closer to becoming law.
Missouri currently allows 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent, provided their partner is under 21, KY3 reported. In 2018, the state raised its minimum marriage age from 15 to 16, but efforts to eliminate child marriage entirely have repeatedly stalled in the legislature.
The Missouri House advanced a bill Thursday that would ban marriage for anyone under 18. While the measure received broad support, 33 lawmakers either voted against it or abstained, including Republican Rep. Hardy Billington of Poplar Bluff, who argued the change would cause abortion rates to "triple." Billington claimed that denying teenagers the ability to marry would push more pregnant girls toward terminating their pregnancies.
"At 16 and 17, when you're going to have a baby and you cannot get married, the chances of having an abortion triple," Billington said. "And so, we all claim to be pro-life here in this body, claim to be pro-life, so now we're going to vote on this bill where babies are gonna die if we pass this bill."
The legislation now awaits a final Senate vote before heading to the governor's desk.
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