The GOP's Next Target? No-Fault Divorce and Women's Right to Leave
(remember the lines in "Days of the Theocracy" 1979--"the family is so holy, there must be no divorce. and if a wife is not content, she must adjust, of course."
The GOP’s Next Target? No-Fault Divorce and Women’s Right to Leave
PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by Amy Shearn
We’re living in a culture of blame—no wonder no-fault divorce is at risk.
. . . Donald Trump, alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and wife Kelly Johnson, speaks to the crowd in the overflow area in after his inauguration at the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025. The Johnsons are in a “covenant marriage,” a religiously-influenced legal agreement that makes it harder to get a divorce. (Graeme Jennings / Getty Images)
While America’s blamer-in-chief foments a culture of finding fault—blaming Democrats for the LA fires, “DEI” for plane crashes and immigrants for high housing prices—those of us who care about women’s and children’s rights are justly concerned about the future of no-fault divorce. Although no-fault divorce hasn’t gotten to. . . . Donald Trump’s chopping block yet, rumors have proliferated, and people are justifiably anxious. As Amanda Montei wrote in her newsletter Mad Woman, “No-fault divorce was one of many internet searches that surged in the days following the election. On TikTok, divorce coaches and influencers urged women to get divorced while they still could. Some divorce lawyers offered anecdotal evidence that divorce filings were already on the rise.”
. . . . .
Let’s be real. The Republican party—roiling as it is with divorcees, serial cheaters and convicted sex offenders—can spare us the lectures on the sanctity of marriage. Nor do I buy that adding friction to the divorce process is about what’s best for children. This administration hasn’t shown much interest in protecting children—poised as they are to slash funding for schools, for example. Besides, as the authors of this historical study of the idea that divorce hurts kids note, “Most of the problems associated with being a child of divorce are instead related to sexism, racism, homophobia, shoddy recordkeeping, and insufficient government support.”
The movement against no-fault divorce is about walking back women’s rights and autonomy. Even opponents of no-fault divorce don’t claim that making divorce harder to obtain will lead to happier marriages, or any change in men’s behavior. As Anne Helen Peterson writes, our culture assumes that a miserable marriage is something that the wife—always the wife—can fix through some good old-fashioned grit and hard work. And that it’s inherently worth such grit and hard-work. Not to get too Marxist here, but marriage serves a useful function in capitalist society. Much of our economy, from housing prices to childcare availability, is designed around the unit of straight married couples. Of course an administration devoted to shuttering social services wants to shore up the institution of marriage.
. . . .
Because you really can want out of a marriage and not hate the other person. In fact, being able to grasp nuance, to hold several ideas in your head at once (i.e., I can’t be married to this person anymore, and also I don’t think he is a criminal or even a bad person), is, if anything, a sign of emotional intelligence, something I think we could all use a little more of. No-fault divorce allows for a civil proceeding guided by mutual respect, without accusations or undue legal drama. Without hatred. Without blame. No wonder the blameocracy questions its validity.
https://msmagazine.com/2025/03/10/gop-no-fault-divorce-ban-womens-rights-trump-mike-johnson/
= new reply since forum marked as read
