Outrage as senator Mike Moon advocates for child marriage in Missouri

Missouri Republican Mike Moon, Who Voted No On Changing Child Marriage Laws Said: 

“Do You Know How Many Kids Have Been Married At Age 12? 

I Do & Guess What ? They’re All Still Happily Married” 

Mike Moon Is Advocating For Child Rape. 

Vote Them Out! During a Tuesday debate, GOP state Senator Mike Moon suggested that children as young as 12 should have the right to marry as long as they have parental consent while arguing a bill he introduced to block gender-affirming care for transgender minors throughout Missouri.

Moon’s support of the practice resurfaced during a committee hearing on a bill introduced by Moon that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children. If passed the bill would ban health care providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries on any minor or from prescribing or administering cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to a minor for a gender transition, unless such minor was receiving such treatment prior to August 28, 2023.

In debate on the bill, Rep. Meredith cited Moon’s stance on child marriage as inconsistent with his aim of protecting children through his bill banning transgender care for minors.

“I’ve heard you talk about parents’ rights to raise their kids how they want. In fact, I just double checked. You voted no on making it illegal for kids to be married to adults at the age of 12. If their parents consented to it, you said actually, that should be the law because it’s the parents right and the kids right to decide what’s best for them. To be raped by an adult,” Meredith said.

Criticized by his colleague, Democratic state Representative Peter Meredith, for an earlier vote in which Moon voted against changing state laws to raise the minimum marrying age, Moon asked Meredith, “Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married.”

The Springfield News-Leader reported that Moon met the couple “who had married one another at age 12” while in college.

A clip of the interaction between the Missouri legislators garnered attention online, with social media users scrutinizing Moon for his stance, but some critics equated his remarks to his support of 12-year-olds being allowed to marry adults.

A southwest Missouri Republican from Ash Grove, Moon’s support of child marriage in some instances has been long documented. In 2018 Missouri passed a law raising the marriage age in the state from 15 to 16 and requiring parental permission for older teenagers to marry. Moon opposed the bill at the time — citing the same anecdote of a couple he met in college who had married one another at age 12.