Red States Are Coming For No-Fault Divorce

[riversedge]

Source: crooksandliars.com



Republican legislatures looking at banning no-fault divorce. Wonder how many of them are on wife number two or three?
— March 22, 2024

by Marcia Zug

“First comes love, then comes marriage” – so goes the classic children’s rhyme. But not everyone agrees. Increasingly, the idea that love is the most important reason to marry – or at least to stay married – is under attack. Republican pundits and lawmakers have been pushing back on the availability of no-fault divorce, challenging the idea that not being in love is a valid reason to end a marriage.

Speaking as a professor of family law, I know such views aren’t new. Zsa Zsa Gabor once quipped, “Getting divorced just because you don’t love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do.” But while Gabor was probably joking, the Republican attack on divorce is serious.

..................

For most of U.S. history, getting a divorce was difficult. Many states banned it entirely, while others permitted it only under limited circumstances – typically cruelty, desertion or adultery. Unhappily married couples who couldn’t prove such “faults” were effectively stuck..............................


Crowder isn’t alone in such criticisms: Divorce has become a hot topic among many red-state Republican lawmakers. Most recently, in January 2024, Oklahoma lawmaker Dusty Deevers proposed a bill to eliminate no-fault divorce and suggested “public shaming” of spouses who commit marital fault and then divorce. Restricting no-fault divorce is also part of both the Texas and Nebraska Republican Party platforms, and was recently debated by Louisiana lawmakers.......................

Read more: https://crooksandliars.com/2024/03/red-states-are-coming-no-fault-divorce

[spooky3]

1. Just another attempt to control women

Since they are the ones who initiate divorce in most cases.

Republican men can’t stand the thought of improving themselves and their behavior in order to keep their spouses happy.

[PortTack]

6. Agree completely...I've thought for sometime marriage has really out lived its usefulness. Parents are still

Required to support their off spring regardless of marriage. And, if in the end, it doesn’t work out it saves a lot of pain, hurt and money!

Just have strong contracts if buying property

[MichMan]

35. Only half of all custodial parents have child support orders in place (either formal or informal)

Of those, only 60% of what is owed is actually collected

[link:https://www.verywellfamily.com/us-child-support-statistics-2997994|

[PortTack]

58. Sad! And gqp can't figure it out...one of many reasons why women don't want to have kids...

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Removing no-fault divorce as an option has unintended consequences.

Before NF Divorce, women used to be killed by their husbands (more than today). This situation was monikered with "Virginia Divorce".

[Traildogbob]

3. Hmmm

Seems like repubs are the multiple wife caucus. MTG, Boebert coulda been forced to stay married, Trump, Gingrich, big trifecta’s. And Melania may get stuck with this lard ass after he loses everything,
Bet she is not on board with this shit.Jr heading for number two. (Which must include no breeding clause)

[VGNonly]

20. The three wives and three divorces

of Rudy G.

[Hassler]

4. Divorce, contraception, yeah those will be big hits.

[GopherGal]

5. And don't forget the "no divorce while pregnant" rules.

in some states. With homicide the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the US.

[Hekate]

7. They are hell-bent on putting us back in our places...

For all those men who resent competition from women in school, university, and the workplace — well, that will take care of 51% of their competitors. Just like that. No birth control, no right to get out of an awful marriage, utter dependence on someone else.

And if that someone else is an emotional wreck, the awful marriage will include phrases like, “Pregnant, again?! That’s all you know how to do is get pregnant! ” (Yes, I actually overheard a guy say that to his wife. It’s one of many reasons I never want to live in an apartment complex again)

Let’s check in on those Afghan girls who were doing so great in school and business while we Americans were still there. Oh, gosh. The Taliban has them out of school at age 12 and out of the workplace entirely.

[calimary]

25. Sure does feel that way!

[MOMFUDSKI]

8. They are on a roll. Let them go.

We are voting in huge numbers. We are voting for our freedom.

[SergeStorms]

17. Napoleon said....

"When your enemy is making a mistake, don't interrupt him."

Give these backward idiots enough rope to hang themselves. They're still living in the 19th century, what they consider the halcyon days of life in America. 🤪

[ZonkerHarris]

9. then they will take away a womans right to have a bank account. Roll it back to 1915 is the plan

[Hekate]

23. Further back than that, by far

[Demobrat]

10. And then they'll wonder why

women refuse to have sex with them or get married.

[flashman13]

11. WTF is wrong with these people? They don't own any of us.

[mercuryblues]

16. That is exactly what is wrong with them

They don't own any of us.

They want to go back to pre-civil war days.

[calimary]

27. Yep. And they think it's wrong that they don't own any of us.

Or worse, that THIS is the day and age when women can freely express themselves, whether as political activists or office-holders, or artists, or scientists, or inventors, or doctors, or anything that used to be men-only (except for bathrooms) in times gone by. And for some men, that's a problem. But it actually means the problem is with THEM, and their refusal to learn or evolve. Not us.

[melm00se]

12. This is why there were

quicky Reno divorces and quicky Mexican divorces.

Reno was the world capital of divorces and Mexico didn't require either or both spouses to appear it could all be done via lawyer proxies.

[markodochartaigh]

13. I don't know about protestant churches.

Do they have annulments like the Catholic church? Selling annulments might be a big revenue generator for megachurches.

[NanaCat]

32. Who cares what the religions do in this arena?

They have zero control over the legal issues surrounding marriage and divorce; the officiant matter at a wedding is a stupid formality that doesn't require a religious official to fulfill--courthouse wedding anyone?

A religious marriage or divorce without state backing is by its nature 100% null and void. It's the marriage license you get from the state, and the court order for a divorce that determines if you're married or divorced.

[lonely bird]

59. Control of sex and specifically procreation is the point

The Roman Church wishes to maintain their revenue streams by requiring children to be raised Catholic and by condemning birth control and divorce. Annulment is legalistic tap-dancing requiring revenue to say that the marriage even if it took place in a church with a priest presiding and having gone through pre-marriage counseling (Engaged Encounter or the like) and produced children did not exist.

[NoMoreRepugs]

14. Fuck every last one of these douchebags.

[Aviation Pro]

15. It's once again about the money

Specifically, alimony and child support.

[NanaCat]

33. It's about control of women, period

They want to keep women from leaving them so that they can have a guaranteed maid, sex slave and punching bag for life.

[tclambert]

18. Making America Great Again by forcing people who hate each other to stay married.

Surely they will allow exceptions for rich old guys who have the opportunity to get a trophy wife to replace the aging starter wife.

[malthaussen]

50. They could craft whatever laws they like.

An idea: they arbitrarily decide that a woman of a certain age is "past bearing age" and make that a legitimate ground for a man to divorce her. Problem solved. They can use whatever arbitrary age they like, since actual fact will not be a factor.

-- Mal

[tclambert]

55. Having sex with a woman "past bearing age" might become illegal, regarded as a form of birth control.

[malthaussen]

57. Good thing they can't charge me retroactively, then.

Although, being Republicans, I wouldn't be surprised if they try.

-- Mal

[SouthernDem4ever]

19. They relish the idea of more domestic violence

They don't think there's enough shows on TV where spouses kill one another.

[progressoid]

21. FWIW, Zsa Zsa was married 9 times and was a practicing Catholic.

[Hekate]

24. I doubt that Rome gave her 9 annulments. She would have simply gone thru the secular process...

…and have got on with her life.

Religious marriages do have their place in people’s emotional lives, but the State should have its secular say even if some people object to the idea of divorce. Other cultures do every well with couples going to the courthouse to register their marriage, and choosing a church or temple wedding afterwards if they also seek a spiritual blessing.

[barbaraann]

31. Do you know about 15 year old Zsa Zsa and Ataturk?

It's a shocking story and might have had something to do with her marriage history.

[kimbutgar]

40. What is the story? I looked on Wikipedia and there was no mention of that name

[barbaraann]

44. Ataturk was originally Mustafa Kemal.

https://keghart.org/tutunjian-when-zsa-zsa-met-mustafa/

[kimbutgar]

46. Wow great story !

Thanks for posting!

[barbaraann]

47. You're welcome.

Who would have ever guessed?

[progressoid]

51. Well I do now!

Wow, what a story!

[NickB79]

22. Marriage rates will plummet

Women aren't stupid, and don't need men to support them any longer. If anything, this will be far more detrimental to men than women, because study after study finds married men are happier and live longer than bachelors.

[Hekate]

26. The problem is this: the same people are doing away with birth control...

The problem that women faced before reliable contraception was invented — especially The Pill — was that men were speaking the literal truth when they said:

* to their daughters: you don’t need to go to college, because you’ll just get married and have babies
* to women seeking employment: are you married? are you planning to get pregnant? you know a man with a family needs this job.
* to women seeking advancement in their work: you know, a man supporting a family needs this promotion, and when you get married you’ll quit to have babies.

Beyond that, men whose wives keep getting pregnant uncontrollably are not happy about it unless they are Quiverfull nutcases.

[calimary]

28. What they really want is a time machine so they can literally go back in time and maybe drag some

women with them into the Dark Ages.

[Hekate]

29. The Dark Ages sounds about right. When women died in childbirth & uppity women could be burned at the stake.

[VGNonly]

30. Or women being committed to

mental hospitals just for standing up for themselves.

[NanaCat]

34. Back before no-fault divorce, my brother's classmate

Her dad put mom in a mental institution so that he could marry his chippie on the side.

It destroyed the wife, all four of the kids and even the wanker husband, once he realized what a mistake he'd made marrying a gold-digging tramp. One who was so stupid that she went jogging only two weeks after having breast enlargement surgery. One of the implants ruptured, and she nearly died from sepsis.

[Delphinus]

42. Had to look up

Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2024, 03:19 PM - Edit history (1)

what chippie meant.

Honestly, I would have found it hard not to laugh about that, her boob job breaking.

[malthaussen]

49. Briefly. But it's not like they will stop there.

I am willing to bet that these legislators already have drafts of laws to further restrict women, making it illegal for them to hold many kinds of jobs, have personal credit and banking, etc. They can pass whatever laws they like, you know, there is nothing to restrain them. They're already talking about taking away a woman's right to vote.

Sure, then these laws will go to the Courts and be overturned, but that is a multi-year process during which many will suffer, which IMO is the point of the exercise.

-- Mal

[NickB79]

52. Handmaid's Tale going from sci-fi to reality

[et tu]

36. money grab also

nf divorce let's a former spouse claim some money and support.
this type of male doesn't want to share, so the saying- 'no divorce cuz
it's cheaper to keep her'~ entitled much? hell yes!

[617Blue]

37. Red states gonna be full of angry Incel dudes when the women leave

at some point they may all get a little "gay curious" if there are no women around.

[TxGuitar]

39. Here are some others advocating for getting rid of no-fault....

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/12/running-list-politicians-divorce-harder-no-fault-divorce-tom-cotton-mike-johnson-jd-vance/

[FakeNoose]

41. I'm betting this is going to backfire on the Repukes bigtime!

You know who hates "no-fault" divorce? Lawyers, that's who.

No-fault divorces are ideal for young couples who have no property and no kids, so they can quickly nullify a partnership without being impoverished by divorce lawyers. LAWYERS HATE THAT and they've been fighting these laws for years.

Why are the red states allowing themselves to be manipulated by self-serving lawyers?

[Delphinus]

43. I sure hope

this backfires on them, as well as their desire to take away birth control and a women's right to healthcare.

[appleannie1]

45. They want to go back to the "good old days" when women were the property of their husbands, could not buy a house,a car

or have a credit card in their name and if they accidently burned dinner, the husband had the right to discipline the wife by beating her. I was working in the PD when laws finally changed and police could charge a husband with assault if the wife had marks on her from a beating she just received. That was in 1994 so it was not that long ago. Women found it difficult to support children if she did leave her husband because finding a job that paid enough to pay the rent and feed a child was hard to find. When I was 18 and worked in a factory, I was paid over 3 dollars an hour less than a man doing the same job.
They won't be happy until women have to wear ankle length dresses and woolen stockings, never cut their hair and wear head covering. The next thing on their list will be the right to vote.

[malthaussen]

48. Goodness, gracious, who would have seen that coming?

At least it will provide PIs with more work.

-- Mal

[mahina]

53. Why though?

????

[Chainfire]

54. The ever expanding Republican policy of, "What can we take from you today?"

[Ritabert]

56. Time to forget getting married

Women should start looking out for themselves and stop dating these losers.

[Elessar Zappa]

61. But why should they have to forsake marriage, if that's what they want?

Women won’t let Republicans dictate what their relationship status is. These laws, if passed, willl be overturned by the courts.

[happyez]

60. They would need to take away the right to vote before access to contraception

So this sounds terrible and dystopian (which it is), however, I am more interested in the contra-action.
It's not like fiction where the evil guys do an action and all you get in return are people running away screaming and one guys saving the world.
Every action has an opposite action - economic, social, intellectual etc.

So let's say it becomes law that you can no longer divorce at will, and the courts uphold this new law. And let's throw in that they ban contraception and talk openly about stopping women from having employment etc.

OK, then what happens? Say this all happens in the next 6 months, because these idiots are held hostage by their own hubris.
Well, November is around the corner.
People will not (and I mean men and women) will not just sit this out, something happens.
That is what I'm interested in.

[samnsara]

62. well this makes marriage just SO attractive...

...as if its not the hellmouth of conflicts anyway..