Pregnant women in Missouri can't get divorced.

[MrDawn]

Your thoughts?

Established in the 1970s, the rule was intended to make sure men were financially accountable for the children they fathered.

Advocates in Missouri are now pushing to change this law, arguing that it's being weaponized against victims of domestic violence and contributes to the contraction of women's reproductive freedoms in a post-Roe v. Wade landscape.

"In Missouri, it feels as though they have really closed down every door in terms of reproductive autonomy," says Kristen Marinaccio, an attorney and expert in divorce law who has examined these kinds of laws in Missouri and other states. She says beyond the legal and financial ties of marriage, there is powerful emotional weight to legally terminating a marriage. "You might just think, well, it's a piece of paper," she says, "but that piece of paper that tells you you're no longer in this horrible marriage is really freeing for a lot of clients."

After hearing stories about survivors unable to leave marriages, state Rep. Ashley Aune introduced House Bill 2402. It would allow pregnant women to finalize divorce in Missouri.

 

[Webster]

Awful convenient of 'em.
They can't get divored if they're pregnant and if they try and seek abortion services they can be threatened with arrest for murdering the fetus.

Cute.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Sounds like a backwards law to me.

 

[Webster]

Sounds like a backwards law to me.

Welcome to Red State America; as much as I love to slag California at times, I'd much rather live there if I could afford to.