Legislative Panel Votes Against Raising South Dakota Marriage Age to 18

PIERRE, S.D.(KVRR/AP) — Sixteen and 17 year olds can still wed in South Dakota, with consent, after a legislative committee shot down an effort to raise the age to 18 by a vote of 8 to 5.

The bills sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls, says between 2000 and 2020, 838 minors got married in the state.

81 percent were minor girls being wed to adult men.

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.

The law in North Dakota is similar but in Minnesota you have to be 18 or older to get married.