A bill to ban child marriages is ready for a vote in the Florida Senate.
The idea has been championed by Sherry Johnson of Tampa, who says she was forced her to marry the minister who raped her so he could avoid criminal charges.
"I got pregnant at the age of 9, I gave birth to my daughter at the age of 10, then at the age of 11 I was forced to marry my rapist," she said. "Out of that relationship came six children by the age of 16 years of age."
Child marriages are more common in Florida than most people realize.
Officials say between the years of 2012 and 2016 alone, more than 18-hundred marriages licenses were issued for children in the Sunshine State.
The measure is being applauded by child safety advocates, who say it's time to protect the girls and not the pedophiles.