Let’s talk about Bill SB26-048. It allows children to marry adults. Why would any Colorado lawmaker support that?  

Practically speaking, marriage has changed. In 2026, we expect marriage to be an equal contract between consenting adults. But in many countries, cultures and over centuries, marriage was considered a family-governed social institution tied to property, inheritance, legitimacy, pregnancy, and parental authority over children.  

In other words, these people exploited their children for financial, social, or business advantage. Shame on them for doing it.  But shame on us for not stopping it sooner.  

There was also a gender double standard built into these old marriage laws. Girls were often allowed to marry younger than boys, reflecting the erroneous idea that girls matured earlier. The consensus of that era was that a girl’s social role should be tied to marriage and motherhood sooner.  

Thank God we know better now.  

Child marriage was also allowed to deal with pregnancy and the stigma around sex outside marriage. Both our laws and customs often sometimes treated marriage as the “solution” to teen pregnancy, even when the relationship itself was unequal or coercive.  

Later, some state laws even made pregnancy a route around ordinary legal age barriers. For example, a Maryland statute allowed a younger female to marry without parental consent if a doctor certified she was pregnant or had given birth. 

Child marriage has persisted because we just did not consider what was developmentally appropriate in these situations. Some CDC historical summaries show that in 1970, most states still permitted marriage below the ordinary adult age. But some states even allowed girls younger than 16 to marry with parental permission. 

These laws grew out of a toxic paradigm that prioritized predatory control and unfair sexual regulation – since sex should not include children. These terrible ideas lasted so long not because they were ever wise, but because legal assumptions can last long after they should be abandoned. 

There were no American standards for marriage built around our modern child-protection framework until the end of the twentieth century. 

I wish that I could say that Colorado was different. But in Colorado before 2019, children under 16 could marry by parental consent and judicial approval. Eventually, we narrowed the law but still allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to marry by court approval. 

Recently, Bill SB26-048 was drafted, requiring everyone to be 18 to obtain a marriage license. It was introduced with no exceptions. The bill passed the Senate in that form. 

However, as of April 19, 2026, SB26-048 has not ended child marriage in Colorado.  

This is because the House of Representatives committee adopted Amendment L.002, which changed the law to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with judicial approval, provided the age gap is less than 10 years. The bill is still under consideration in the House.  

So now the law limits age gaps instead of ending underage marriage. 

 “Less than 10 years older” is still a child marrying an adult. Colorado legislators who weakened SB26-048 may not call it that, but they are preserving toxic legal conditions that benefit sexual predators and adult exploiters. Our state is proposing a continuation of minors entering marriages to adults instead of prohibiting them.  

And these unequally yoked marriages rarely happen, but they do happen. Colorado’s own revised fiscal note in the law says there were five marriages from 2019 to 2026 involving a minor and someone more than 10 years older, meaning the amendment addresses only part of the problem.  

No child should be married in Colorado. This law leaves the door open to coercion, pressure, and exploitation. 

Restore the original standard of SB26-048: marriage should be between consenting adults who are at least 18, no exception. Pressure lawmakers now because the bill is still moving toward a vote within the Colorado House of Representatives.  

That is not ending child marriage. That is managing it. If lawmakers are serious, then finish the job: Marriage should be age 18, no exceptions – or kill the bill and start over. 

Call Governor Jared Polis and your state legislators.  

Rachel Stovall is a Colorado Springs event manager, entertainer and community advocate.