Oklahoma considers raising age of consent to 18: Senate bill 615 under review

OKLAHOMA CITY- (KOKH) — Oklahoma could soon become one of the states that requires the age of consent to be 18 years of age if Senate Bill 615 is heard and passed in the House.

"In general, the age of consent is being raised from 16 to 18," saidRep. Jim Olsen.

Olsen said the aim of the bill is to protect teenagers, especially those who might be in vulnerable situations.

"We don't want an older man, say a 35-year-old man who's a coach or an authority figure to abuse his position with a 16-year-old to get her to consent, so we don't want that to happen," he said.

However, Olsen said he and supporters of the bill don't want to interfere with what he says would be considered more normal.

"Say a 16 and a 18-year-old. But so, in law, it does allow that earlier minimum age to be 14, if someone's close to the same age, and so this moves it to 15," he said.

In light of this bill, when FOX 25 asked Olsen if he believes marriage laws in the state that allow those as young as 16 to be married should also be modified, here's what he had to say:

"In general, I don't think it's to be recommended. Personally, I don't think under 20 is to be recommended. But that's my judgement based on a few things, but do we want to make that a matter of law?" he asked. "There's the classic case of a young man who takes liberties with a young lady. And the father says, 'Alright son, now you're gonna marry her.' Is that the right answer? I don't know. But I don't think it's appropriate for us to totally take that off the table."

Olsen said the bill passed through committee this week, and that the next step is that it will hopefully be heard on the house floor. If passed, it will head to the governor’s desk, and if signed, would go into effect immediately.