Common Sense for HD33’s Response to Sarah Penn’s Complaint about our Recent Mailer & Her Child Marriage Vote

Common Sense sent out a mailer to Rep. Penn’s constituents informing people on how she voted on 6 topics – citing 11 different votes.

At a recent forum, Penn complained that this mailer was “negative.”  It was obviously an afront to her that we informed her constituents about how she had voted – as their representative.

Transparency? Not when it’s applied to her.

Sarah Penn claims she supports government transparency, but when it applies to her vote record, she doesn’t want her constituents to know.

Explaining why she voted to continue child marriages.

One of the votes cited on the mailer was HB7 - a bill to prohibit child marriages under the age of 16 and provide safeguards for proposed marriages of 16 and 17 year olds. This bill was discussed in legislative debate as necessary to curb incidences in Wyoming of sex trafficking of young girls and to protect them from forced marriages by their parents. It was explained that these practices did take place in our state. Penn voted against the bill, claiming at the forum, a concern for “parents’ rights.”

Background

In Wyoming, before HB7 passed in 2023 - marriage was legal for ANY AGE, including for 13, 14, and 15 year-olds. For these marriages, of those under 16 years, parents had to give consent, and then the parents had to apply for a judge's order to OK the marriage. The judge’s involvement was used as a safeguard to protect the child…but debate in the legislature revealed that that process sometimes failed and there was a history in Wyoming of marriages of such younger children to adults.

HB7, however, changed this. The bill made marriage for any child under 16 outright illegal. The bill also moved the judge’s safeguard process to apply for 16 and 17 year-olds. Parents still retained their same rights – they had to provide their consent and still initiated the application for a judge's order to allow the marriage. (A judge does not act without the parents’ request.)

During debate on the bill, neither Penn nor anyone else tried to amend the bill to take away the judge’s involvement as a safeguard for 16 & 17 year olds. Nor did Penn voice concerns about "parental rights" during the session. This is documented in videos of the floor debates on the bill.

Now what she says.

Penn now says she cares about parents’ rights and is silent on the need to protect children from sexual exploitation. Remember - before HB7 passed, child marriage allowed for children to be trafficked into sexually abusive relationships.

At the forum, she complained about the involvement of a judge in HB7, even though in fact, removing the judge requirement would allow parents to force their child into marriage.

Penn cared more about continuing “parents’ rights” - allowing them to force children into sexually exploitive marriages – instead of protecting children.

She voted to leave 13, 14 and 15 year olds at risk and opposed safeguards for 16 and 17 year olds in these situations.

Bill information: https://wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2023/HB0007