Current Status Introducing Body:Senate Bill Number:1252 Primary Sponsor:Reese Committee Number:11 Type of Legislation:GB Subject:Marriage license, certificate; venereal diseases Residing Body:Senate Current Committee:Judiciary Computer Document Number:CYY/15865AC.94 Introduced Date:19940310 Last History Body:Senate Last History Date:19940310 Last History Type:Introduced, read first time, referred to Committee Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Reese Type of Legislation:General Bill
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN Leg Involved
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1252 Senate 19940310 Introduced, read first time, 11
referred to Committee
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TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 20-1-215 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT NO MARRIAGE LICENSE MAY BE ISSUED UNLESS THE APPLICANTS PRESENT A PHYSICIAN'S CERTIFICATE THAT UPON EXAMINATION, NO EVIDENCE WAS FOUND OF VENEREAL DISEASE OR TUBERCULOSIS AND TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS AND PENALTIES; AND TO AMEND SECTION 20-1-230, RELATING TO REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A MARRIAGE LICENSE, SO AS TO ALSO REQUIRE THE PHYSICIAN'S CERTIFICATE PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 20-1-215.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 20-1-215. (A) No license to marry may be issued to an applicant except upon the applicant presenting a certificate executed within thirty days from the date of presentation showing that, by the usual methods of examination made by a regularly licensed physician, no evidence was found of a venereal disease including Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or of tuberculosis in the infectious or communicable stage.
(B) Notwithstanding subsection (A), a marriage license may be issued to a person who has been infected with:
(1) a venereal disease including Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or of tuberculosis in the infectious or communicable stage, if the applicant:
(a) has completed treatment and is certified by a regularly licensed physician as having been cured or probated, and if the physician has certified that the applicant and the proposed marital partner have been informed by the physician of any possible future infectivity of the applicant;
(b) is found to be in that stage of the disease that is not communicable to the marital partner as certified by a regularly licensed physician, if the applicant signs an agreement to take adequate treatment until cured or probated;
(c) is pregnant and it is necessary to protect the legitimacy of the offspring, if the applicant signs an agreement to take adequate treatment until cured or probated;
(d) the proposed marital partner are both infected with the same disease and have signed an agreement to take treatment until cured or probated.
(2) active tuberculosis:
(a) if the female applicant is pregnant and it is necessary to protect the legitimacy of the offspring, if the female applicant and the proposed marital partner, if he has active tuberculosis, shows evidence of being under treatment for tuberculosis and both persons are known to the local or county health department and sign agreements to take adequate treatment until cured or protected;
(b) if there is a living child of the applicants and it is necessary to protect the legitimacy of the child and either or both of the applicants have active tuberculosis, if the applicant or applicants with active tuberculosis show evidence of being under treatment for tuberculosis and both applicants are known to the local or county health department and sign agreements to take adequate treatment until cured or protected;
(c) in order to validate any type of marriage which took place before the illness of either applicant but which marriage was later found to be invalid because of some technicality and the technicality is not a bar to marriage in South Carolina, if the marital partner or partners who have active tuberculosis show evidence of being under treatment and sign an agreement to take adequate treatment until cured or protected, and both marital partners are known to the local or county health department.
(C) The certificate required pursuant to this section must be executed by a physician licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina, any other state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, whose duty it is to examine the applicants and to issue the certificate in conformity with the requirements of this section. If applicants are unable to pay for the examination, a certificate without charge may be obtained from the local health department.
(D) If a person who obtains a marriage license by misrepresentation or false pretenses, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days or both."
SECTION 2. Section 20-1-230 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 20-1-230. The judge of probate or clerk of court with whom an application is filed shall issue a license for the marriage of the applicants upon:
Upon (a) (1) the filing of the application required under the provisions of Section 20-1-220,;
(b) (2) the filing of the physician's certificate required under Section 20-1-215;
(3) the lapse of at least twenty-four hours thereafter, after the application is filed;
(c) (4) the payment of a fee of one dollar; and
(d) (5) the filing of a statement, under oath or affirmation, to the effect that the persons seeking the contract of matrimony are legally entitled to marry, together with and the full names of the persons, their ages and places of residence, the judge of probate or clerk of court with whom the application was filed shall issue a license for the marriage of such persons."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.