Ending child marriage in Kentucky.

Once and for all.

That's the intent behind Senate Bill 156, as proponents see it.

It would close a loophole in the current law that the bill's sponsor says is being exploited by the judicial system.

A survival of generational child marriages told her story in committee this morning.

I approached Senator Adams about filing this bill because this is not theoretical to me.

This is my wife.

Donna Simmons mother was married when she was 13, ending her education after the eighth grade.

Simmons says that trauma and instability shaped her childhood.

I was admitted to a behavioral health facility where I was groomed by a 29 year old staff member.

I was 14 years old when I was released.

That relationship continued, and at 16, my mother consented to me marrying him.

He was 31.

I was forced to drop out of high school before completing the 10th grade.

When I tried to escape his abuse, I was denied housing because I was a minor and I could not enter into a contract.

At 16, I miscarried and nearly died from complications.

As a married minor, I could not consent to my own medical care.

Now an advocate against child marriage, Simmons worked with Senator Julie Rocky Adams to pass Senate Bill 48 in 2018, which established the legal age for marriage as 18.

With some exceptions.

We have one, one caveat that did allow for 17 year olds to get married if they had, approval from, the judicial system.

What we found is that caveat that we put in back in 2018 has really been exploited.

It hasn't been adhered to.

The law hasn't been followed.

Simmons says she found public records of judges authorizing marriages for 16 year olds, and spousal age gaps of up to 12 years between a minor and an adult.

So all this bill does is just close that loophole and it just makes marriage at 18 years old.

The bill passed unanimously, but one lawmaker wants to see exceptions for 17 and 18 or 19 year olds who want to be married.

My best friend and his wife, they were married when she was 17 and he's 19.

They've been married 60 some odd years.

And so I understand the issue when it comes to predators.

But I do have a few questions and maybe we can talk about.

Thank you.

Possibly a maybe tighten this thing up a little bit.

The bill will next head to the full Senate for consideration there.

For Kentucky edition I'm Mackenzie Spink.