SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A Senate Bill, SB156, an act to increase the minimum age for marriage, has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 4-2 vote.

Republican Senators Tom Pischke and Tamara Grove were the legislators voting against the measure.

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The bill, brought by Republican Sen. Sydney Davis, strikes a portion of existing law that states that a person between the ages of 16 and 18 can be married as long as one of their parents/guardians signs a statement of consent.

The bill also sets the penalty for knowingly marrying an underage person as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Proponents of the bill included survivors of child marriages, including Sheena Eastman of Missouri, who gave emotional testimony.

“I got married 45 days after my 15th birthday to a 21 year old man,” Eastman began. “The first month was the first hit. The second month was the first rape. I was told it was not rape because I was married and it was God’s will.”

Eastman explained her struggle to escape what was an abusive marriage as a child.

“I couldn’t go to a domestic violence shelter because I wasn’t 18. I couldn’t run away from home because the cops returned me to him when I did,” Eastman continued. “I wasn’t allowed to get a divorce because it was a contract and I couldn’t hire an attorney, and I wasn’t even allowed to get my restraining order until my mother came out and seen him beating me physically. When she finally agreed to take me to get a restraining order, the worst part of that is two years and four days later I was arrested for his murder.”

Eastman told the committee that she spent 25 years in prison of the murder charge, and argued that if this law had been in place in her state, it would have given her protection.

Much of the proponent testimony before the committee centered on concerns related to child trafficking and abuse.

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Opponent testimony on the bill kicked off with Norman Woods of SD Family Voice Action. He began by stating for the record that forced marriage is horrible, before arguing that the marriages themselves aren’t the problem, but that instead the issue is abusers.

Woods’ second point was that the bill would take power away from the parents of minor would-be-brides/grooms and give it to the state instead. He used the example of pregnant 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man as a situation where it would be proper for a parent to sign off on a marriage.

Woods’ third point of opposition is that the bill would raise the marriage age to 18, but would not change the state’s age of consent, which is 16.

The other opponent testifying was Dawson Schroeder, who introduced himself as a freshman at SDSU and VP of the SDSU College Republicans, though he specified he was testifying on his own behalf.

Schroeder argued many child marriages are the result of unplanned pregnancies, and that current law shows South Dakota’s commitment to respecting parental rights.

Davis spoke briefly in rebuttal, noting that while marriage itself may not be the problem, the issue of child marriage in particular is complicated. She noted that children must wait for many things, such as waiting until the age of 18 to vote, or the age of 21 to drink or smoke.

The committee asked no questions of the sponsor or witnesses, instead moving on to discussion.

Sen. Grove, who voted against the bill, argued that it does not go far enough toward protecting children.

Sen. Pischke, also opposing the bill, said he was worried about unintended consequences.

Pischke recounted a story from his high school of a 17-year-old couple who got pregnant. The boy was very religious, Pischke explained, and the couple had to confess before his church that they had gotten pregnant and intended to get married.

Pischke argued if the bill had been law at the time, these 17-year-olds would not have been allowed to get married and would have had a child out of wedlock, against the wishes of their parents and church.

Pischke made a motion to kill the bill, but nobody seconded it.

Republican Sen. Jim Mehlhaff moved to pass the bill, and his motion was seconded by Republican Sen. Helene Duhamel.

Passing 4-2, the bill will now go to the Senate floor for further consideration.