36 Republicans in Oklahoma Voted in Favor of Child Marriage

Just yikes…

By: Austin Abbring

June 8, 2026

This is a story from about a month ago, but I wanted to honor a social media request I saw. A creator on Substack pointed out that 36 House Republicans from Oklahoma voted against their governor's bill that would eliminate child marriage in the state. That creator wanted to ensure this story would not be buried, and I feel it is my duty to keep the torch lit. Let’s dive into it.

Let us start with the good news. This bill, which would ban child marriage under the age of 18 with no exceptions, did pass in the state house 51-36. This makes Oklahoma the 17th state in the union, as well as Washington, D.C., to enact such legislation. The bad news is that all 36 ‘nay’ votes came from Republican members of the state legislature. Many of them argued that this would be an overreach of the government, that the state government should not override any parents' or guardians' decisions, that this leaves a grey area for emancipated teenagers who may want to marry, and Representative Jim Olsen pointed to “family values” and the Bible for his justification in voting ‘no’. 

I find all of these contentions absurd. I am not comfortable with parents superseding the state in this regard. Child brides are more susceptible to abuse: emotional, physical, and sexual, and having parents as the final arbiter of marriage helps create such an environment. Citing the bible or “family values” is an incoherent argument as well. There is a separation of church and state in the country (or at least there is supposed to be) for a reason. Children under the age of 18 do not have the psychological maturity to make these decisions. Child brides are more likely to live in poverty, have fewer educational opportunities, may lack consent, do not have full legal resource access, and are at higher risk of health complications in terms of pregnancy complications and infant mortality. Coercing a child to marry and using religion or traditional values as justification is simply unacceptable in a modern society. There is a whole litany of other reasons as to why I oppose child marriage, but I will leave it at this.  We have a long way to go in the country in terms of banning child marriage. Frankly, I find it disturbing that only 17 states have banned it.

Historically, Democrats have overwhelmingly voted in favor of banning child marriage. 15 of the 17 states with bans are Democratic-run. On the national level, states that lean Republican have higher child marriage rates. I am not suggesting this is just a Republican issue, but it should not surprise many people, considering how hard so many Republican legislators have fought against releasing the Epstein files in order to protect Donald Trump.