South Dakota is one of 34 states that allow some children under the age of 18 to marry.
Teens aged 16 and 17 can get married in the state if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian, which has been the law since 1993, though several previous attempts to change the law have been rejected.
A bill introduced in the 2026 legislative session would raise the age to 18 but allows teens 16 and 17 with an age gap of no more than four years to marry if granted from a court hearing or with parental permission.
According to the website Unchained At Last, 881 children (under the age of 18) were married in South Dakota from 2000-23.
Child marriage was legal in all 50 states until 2018, when Delaware and New Jersey banned it. Since then, 14 more states and Washington, D.C., have joined them.
