Parental Rights Gutted by Democrat Bill Supported by Republicans
An amazingly bad piece of legislation passed out of the House last week despite being stopped two days earlier. HB 3873 was stopped 60 to 35 on the 9th, preserved using a parliamentarian move, and passed on the 11th 78 to 16. The bill gutted vast amount of parental protections from underage children getting married. Democrat Jason Dunnington authored the legislation that ultimately traded a parent's approval for marriage for a judge's permission after an in camera interview without any parents or lawyers present.
The changes are a child sexual predator's dream. No longer does their victim they have been grooming have the need to get parental approval. Entire sections of the existing law that protects minors have be gutted out of the statute section and replaced by the prohibition on under 18 years of age marriage which sounds good until you realize that all the kid needs to do is have a judge emancipate them or simply give them permission to marry while under legal age.
Sooner Politics wrote a good story on the issue which can be read at this link. The votes for the law can be found here.
