A Utah lawmaker is trying to shut down a long-running escape hatch used to trap children in illegal marriages—by stopping adults from hauling minors across state lines to wed.
State Rep. Melissa Garff Ballard has introduced House Bill 103, legislation that would criminalize unlawfully marrying a minor, transporting a minor for an illegal marriage, or traveling out of state with the intent to carry out an underage wedding and then returning to Utah.
The proposal puts Ballard on a collision course with local religious groups that have faced years of scrutiny for child marriage practices, including the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS.
Ballard says the bill is necessary because Utah has become a crossroads for exploitation. “We have report after report of Utah being the crossroads of drugs, human trafficking, sex trafficking,” she told Fox 13. “And right now with social media, it’s so prevalent with individuals coercing minors to get married or to ‘meet me, and we’ll get married so that you can come and get away from your families.’ It’s very manipulative.”
Under current Utah law, marriage is limited to those 16 and older, and anyone under 18 must have parental consent. The mainstream Mormon Church says it discourages relationships involving children under 16 and rejects polygamous marriage outright.
But breakaway sects have long operated in the shadows.
The FLDS has repeatedly been accused of facilitating illegal, polygamous child marriages. Its leader, Warren Jeffs, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of child sex offenses tied to marriages he presided over involving underage girls in Colorado City, Arizona.
The fallout continues years later. Several mothers say they are still searching for children they fear were pulled back into the FLDS and forced into marriages they never chose.
Elizabeth Roundy, a former member of the sect, told Fox 13 she hasn’t seen her children in years after they returned to the group. She worries constantly about her daughter. “I just don’t want her to get married young or to get in a bad situation where she’s not treated right or with respect or something terrible happens to her,” Roundy said, referencing the disturbing revelations tied to Jeffs’ teachings.
Ballard insists her bill does not change Utah’s existing marriage laws. Instead, she says it closes a loophole that allows abusers to bypass them. “This is really to say we do not want you in Utah to violate Utah marriage laws or try to go around them by just taking a minor out of state and then returning,” she said. “We do not want you to take advantage of minors in our state.”
House Bill 103 is aimed squarely at crimes Ballard says overlap with child trafficking and sex trafficking—using marriage as a cover.
The bill will be considered when the Utah State Legislature convenes next week. Ballard says opposition has been loud, but support is growing, particularly from advocacy groups and families affected by illegal marriages.
“I’m really grateful that people are taking the initiative and trying to help us out,” she said. “It’s my hope and prayer it’ll help protect all our young children from these underage marriages that are illegal and terrible.”
