Missouri law bars divorce during pregnancy - even in cases of violence

[Lonestarblue]

How long before extremist Republicans ban divorce for any reason in their war to force women to live by their religious views of patriarchal control? These laws jeopardize women’s lives but Republicans just do not care.

“Under a Missouri statute that has recently gained nationwide attention, every petitioner for divorce is required to disclose their pregnancy status. In practice, experts say, those who are pregnant are barred from legally dissolving their marriage. “The application [of the law] is an outright ban,” said Danielle Drake, attorney at Parks & Drake. When Drake learned her then husband was having an affair, her own divorce stalled because she was pregnant. Two other states have similar laws: Texas and Arkansas.
…

“In Missouri, homicide was the third leading cause of deaths in connection with pregnancy between 2018–2022, the majority (75%) of which occurred among Black women, according to a 2023 report by the Missouri department of health and senior services, which examines maternal mortality data. In every case, the perpetrator was a current or former partner. And in 2022, 23,252 individuals in the state received services after reporting domestic violence, according to the latest reporting from Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, which compiles data from direct service providers in the state.“

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/15/missouri-law-divorce-pregnancy-violence-abortion

[Hugin]

1. The cruelty is the point. n/t

[Lovie777]

2. Red states are overreaching into people's personal and private lives...............

and again, Republicans are digging and looking into people's underwear and bedrooms. It's something about "sex" for some reason Republicans want to control.

[machoneman]

6. What? The party of personal responsibility peeking into our lives? The nerve..........

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. Back to the Stone Ages in the 21st Century...

This is what happens when people VOTE REPUBLICAN.

Perhaps we need a slogan to repeat....WOMEN DON'T LET OTHER WOMEN VOTE REPUBLICAN!

[TSExile]

19. I love it.

Put that on a bumper sticker!! ♀️👊

[2naSalit]

4. GOTV!!!

[edisdead]

5. This is complete madness

How the fuck is this a thing?

[jimfields33]

15. Pennsylvania makes you wait a year!

Pregnancy or not. It’s insane.

[Johnny2X2X]

7. Republican Extremism

This is unfortunately not surprising, Republicans want complete control over people's lives, especially their sex lives. Now they are telling people when they can break up with their significant others, it's pure fascism.

[Joinfortmill]

10. Not people, people who are women.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. Primarily yes

But this will effect men too. Wife steps out on the marriage and gets pregnant by another man, this will delay the divorce.

It's just more big government overreach by the GOP who want absolute control over people's (expecially women) private lives. We're going to see them get more and more extreme.

[TSExile]

18. But women aren't people...

...so sayeth the Grand Old Patriarchy - just incubators.

[Joinfortmill]

8. Keep at it, morons.

'I am woman, hear me roar' is coming at you from the voter box.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. I've lived in Missouri most of my life and

I think I have heard this discussed maybe once. Either people have learned someway around the law or it just isn't an issue that comes up very often.

[underpants]

27. Maybe it just wasn't enforced. Virginia had a cohabitation law until very recently

Last edited Fri Mar 15, 2024, 11:57 AM - Edit history (1)

Unmarried man and woman couldn’t sign a lease or buy a house together. No one enforced it because….cha-ching $. I had one landlord tell me and a girlfriend who were signing a lease for house that we needed to be aware of it. She was still leasing to us but she mentioned it basically as an aside joke.

[leftyladyfrommo]

34. That could be. People in KC don't pay much

attention to the state government because it's a bunch of old right wingers. I would bet that about 1 in 10 could even tell you who the governor is.

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Great. Let's regulate marriage. Diet, exercise, finances, play time.

Why stop at divorce?

[Phoenix61]

13. You can file for divorce but it won't be finalized until

after the birth. Child support has to be decided before a divorce is final.

[evemac]

26. So you cannot modifiy a divorce decree? Nt

[Phoenix61]

36. Of course you can as soon as you pay a lawyer to

file the papers. Then wait for it to be assigned to a judge and eventually get on front of said judge. No money? Too bad.

[sop]

14. "Experts say, those who are pregnant are barred from legally dissolving their marriage."

I love their experts' use of the pronoun "those" to avoid just saying "women." I thought Republicans objected to the use of non-binary pronouns. Does this also mean "those" who cannot become pregnant can dissolve their marriage?

[Botany]

16. Once again the Republicans are pissing away the women's vote.

Keep it up assholes. How many Missouri women have been or know about the subjects
of abuse and in many cases violence by their husbands?

In the privacy of a voting booth women will need to protect their fellow women from
abuse by their votes.

In Missouri can we dare to think of the state flipping blue in 2024 and the GOP being on
the floor?

[TeamProg]

17. What year is this? nt

[lastlib]

21. In Missouri, it's 1624.......

The party that wants government out of people's lives wants government in people's lives.

[lastlib]

20. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be republikans...

My home state embarrassing me again. Shit, I can't BELIEVE these f*ckers!

The Missouri Taliban just cannot stay out of people's lives.

[lastlib]

22. After re-reading this, I have a question---

Can a man divorce his pregnant wife?

...every petitioner for divorce is required to disclose their pregnancy status. In practice, experts say, those who are pregnant are barred from legally dissolving their marriage.

This sounds discriminatory on its face!

[angrychair]

23. Starting to hate the use of they/them

Or using the Republican legislature as the big bad "they". We need to stop this.
The they/them is the voters of Missouri, not the state legislature. They are there doing the will of their voters.
Blaming others takes away the power of people to remedy the situation.

If the people of Missouri don't like this law it is completely within their power to change it.

We need to stop looking for "white kights" to save us or worse think we are powerless because, more than anything, that is what they want you to think.
Any elected official only has the power you give them. You also have the power to take it away.

This law exist because that is what the voters of Missouri wanted. To say otherwise is to take the power away from the voters to change it if they do choose.

[jcgoldie]

24. makes sense

I mean now that we have established mommy's body is not her own after all, can't force the baby to divorce daddy!

[evemac]

25. At some point

Women will stop voluntarily having children.
Women are not chattel, but that's where we're headed.

[MOMFUDSKI]

28. Doesn't prevent the women from leaving

the home, having the baby, and then filling for divorce. IF the bad husband lets her live. Wow

[GiqueCee]

29. Republicans...

... are the Jim Joneses of politics. They don't give a shit about governing fairly for the benefit of all; they crave dominion over the lives of others, more commonly called, "POWER", no matter the cost to those who may not subscribe to their diseased belief system.
Exercising obscene patriarchal control over women is just the beginning. Slap down the target demographic that their base of weak, angry white men hates and fears the most: women. Then attack the LGBTQ+ community, then minorities, then immigrants, and finally, the weak, angry white men themselves.
The Republican modus operandi dovetails perfectly with that of every evangelical charlatan that Satan ever defecated, making their perverted union a match made in not in Heaven, but in the putrid stench of the darkest, most stomach-churning bowels of Hell. Which is where each and every one of them belongs.

[Backseat Driver]

30. Wow, that woman-hatred is really law in several states?

Ohio also has a mandatory "familial responsibility" encoded, though I'm told it is rarely if ever, litigated.
https://perlalaw.com/are-adult-children-required-to-support-their-aging-parents-in-ohio/

Are Adult Children Required to Support their Aging Parents in Ohio?

Under Ohio law, there are certain individuals that you are required to financially support and cannot abandon. Those people are your spouse, your child who is under age 18 or handicapped child under age 21, and your aged or infirm parents or adoptive parents who lack the ability or financial means to support themselves. Failure to provide support is a crime and a misdemeanor of the first degree. However, although this law has been in effect since 1974, I could not find a case where it was used to prosecute an adult child for not providing financial support for an aging parent. (snip)
===========================================

It's far easier, less expensive, and legal to "disinherit" a close family member such as an adult child with whom one is dissappointed and, with whom encouragement from a sibling/executor, has become estranged from being a remaining possible family benefactor. It's easier, I'm told, to decide on a "dignity of death" VSED termination of life in hospice than creating a new LW&T. The cost of perhaps the cost of a phone call or perhaps several postage stamps, in fact, is all that's necessary in the search for possible heirs.

[CrispyQ]

31. Women are just livestock to them. Not even pet status.

Someone on DU pointed that out & it's so true. If one dies serving the almighty fetus, you just get another one & impregnant her.

The 19th is in their sights.

[DBoon]

32. the morality of bronze age herders

"I have many goats and many wives. They are all my property"

[intheflow]

33. Can a sperm donor initiate a divorce, though?

It sound like this is only targeted to people who are pregnant.

[Mountainguy]

35. We likento get mad at things here

But this isn't that.

https://apnews.com/article/pregnancy-divorce-legislation-missouri-texas-b623499bf2145f82ff46d91773d45fec


Judges won't finalize a divorce while there is a pregnancy because they need to know how that child will factor into the judgement.

There isn't anything thay stops a woman from separating and beginning divorce while pregnant.

[republianmushroom]

37. What does her relationship have to do with the evidence in this trial.

And so-called Standards, as we have Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas, who can accept lavish gifts of 38 vacations, 26 private jet flights, VIP tickets & luxury resorts. But no one says anything. Crickets

[SARose]

38. The same is true in Texas

A pregnant person can file for divorce in Texas but it will not be finalized until after the birth. This has to do with child support, and/or paternity.

Not explaining this well, see below:

Can You Get a Divorce While Pregnant in Texas?

Snip

The short answer is no. Although you can file for divorce while pregnant in Texas, the divorce will not be finalized until after the baby is born. This is because the court will not have jurisdiction over a child until it is born and, therefore, cannot make final decisions on issues such as child support, child custody, or even paternity.

Texas courts will not generally grant a divorce until all aspects are addressed. If a judge quickly granted a divorce, it would have to be reopened after the baby is born.

Snip

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