The Christian right is coming for divorce next - Lemmy.World

Before the 1960s, it was really hard to get divorced in America. Typically, the only way to do it was to convince a judge that your spouse had committed some form of wrongdoing, like adultery, abandonment, or “cruelty” (that is, abuse). This could be difficult: “Even if you could prove you had been hit, that didn’t necessarily mean it rose to the level of cruelty that justified a divorce,” said Marcia Zug [https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/yablonzug_marcia.php], a family law professor at the University of South Carolina. Then came a revolution: In 1969, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California (who was himself divorced) signed the nation’s first no-fault divorce law [https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/us/no-fault-divorce-explained-history-wellness-cec/index.html], allowing people to end their marriages without proving they’d been wronged. The move was a recognition that “people were going to get out of marriages,” Zug said, and gave them a way to do that without resorting to subterfuge [https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/us/no-fault-divorce-explained-history-wellness-cec/index.html]. Similar laws soon swept the country, and rates of domestic violence and spousal murder [https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/no-fault-divorce-laws-republicans-repeal/675371/] began to drop as people — especially women — gained more freedom to leave dangerous situations.  Today, however, a counter-revolution is brewing: Conservative commentators [https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/no-fault-divorce-laws-republicans-repeal/675371/] and lawmakers [https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/01/26/no-fault-divorce-law-oklahoma-senator-wants-to-end/72354142007/] are calling for an end to no-fault divorce, arguing that it has harmed men and even destroyed the fabric of society. Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, for example, introduced a bill [https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/01/26/no-fault-divorce-law-oklahoma-senator-wants-to-end/72354142007/] in January to ban his state’s version of no-fault divorce. The Texas Republican Party added a call to end the practice to its 2022 platform [https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/no-fault-divorce-laws-republicans-repeal/675371/] (the plank is preserved in the 2024 version [https://texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-RPT-Platform.pdf]). Federal lawmakers like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and House Speaker Mike Johnson [https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/speaker-mike-johnson-divorce-covenant-marriage/], as well as former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/no-fault-divorce-laws-explained_l_66443b2be4b09a547999e713], have spoken out in favor of tightening divorce laws.