Republicans have renewed their efforts to attack civil rights and American liberties, and now they are eyeing no-fault divorce. Conservatives have begun engaging in concerning rhetoric around no-fault divorce, arguing that it is unconstitutional or against the Christian conception of marriage. Should challenges to no-fault divorce become mainstream, efforts to combat violence against women will face extreme setbacks.
In 1969, Republican California Governor Ronald Reagan approved the country’s first no-fault divorce law. In no-fault divorces, spouses could be granted a divorce for irreconcilable differences without having to prove misconduct by a spouse¹. Notably, prior to this law, women had to prove that their husbands had committed some wrong-doing – such as adultery, domestic violence, cruelty, or abandonment – or persuade them to agree to a divorce. Desperate to receive divorces, some individuals participated in “divorce tourism,”² the relocation to another state that had more lenient divorce laws, while others concocted stories to prove wrongdoing – but most women suffered in silence. Unable to prove their husbands had wronged them, they languished in loveless, and at times abusive, marriages.
It is not an over-exaggeration to say that no-fault divorce saves women’s lives. According to CNN³, A 2004 paper by economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers found an 8 to 16% decrease in female suicides after states enacted no-fault divorce laws. They also noted a roughly 30% decrease in intimate partner violence among both women and men and a 10% drop in women murdered by their partners. Although divorce rates generally increased, no-fault divorce did not promote divorces but merely allowed all those who wished to dissolve a marriage to finally do so without an overly-prolonged and burdensome legal process. The rise in divorce rates reflected a pre-existing public desire, as opposed to an increased interest arising from the changing laws. Now, the majority of couples claim “irreconcilable differences” in their divorces. However, a reimposition of antiquated fault-based divorces will force individuals to not only prove fault but also “create[s] animosity where it doesn’t need to exist,” according to a divorce coach who spoke with Ms. Magazine⁴, thereby harming the children and families that proponents of fault-based divorce claim to advocate for.
Some Republican lawmakers and politicians have begun criticizing no-fault divorce, arguing that it is too easy for people to obtain a divorce. According to the Guardian⁵, right-wing religious conservatives claim that contemporary divorce laws “deprive [men] of due process and hurt families.” The Texas Republican Party 2022 Platform, for example, expressed a desire to “rescind unilateral no-fault divorce laws and support covenant marriage,” directly threatening no-fault divorce¹. Ohio Republican Senate nominee J.D. Vance described how no-fault divorce makes it “easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear.”⁶ Beverly Willet, co-chair of the Coalition For Divorce Reform claimed, “unilateral no-fault divorce clearly violates the 14th Amendment. Too often in family court, defendants are deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law.”⁷ Contributors to the draconian Project 2025 have also expressed interest in ending no-fault divorce⁸, a concerning development as they lay out policy agendas for a potential Republican presidential victory in the 2024 General Elections. All of these perspectives represent dangerous conservative ideologies that pose a threat to individual freedom and the rights of women.
Renewed threats to no-fault divorce are alarming, especially in relation to discussions of violence against women. Marium Durrani, vice president of policy at the National Domestic Violence Hotline shared, “any barrier to divorce is a really big challenge for survivors. What it really ends up doing is prolonging their forced entanglement with an abusive partner.”⁹ Legal changes that promote full-consent divorce would trap women in decaying and violent marriages if abusive husbands refused to grant their consent for a divorce. The elimination of no-fault divorce would threaten to transport us back to a day in which women were considered their husbands’ property and domestic abuse was considered a private matter as opposed to a crime. Researcher and university professor Justin Wolfers elaborated, that men’s rights activists “speak about no-fault divorce as a feeling that they’re ripped off because they don’t control their property. The moment you go a step further and admit that people are no longer property, this rhetoric becomes a lot less persuasive.”⁴
The overturn of Roe v. Wade and ensuing attacks on abortion, birth control, and IVF prove that anything is possible. Republicans have displayed renewed interest in “protecting the American family” and have expressed this through concrete action. As Dobbs taught us, nothing is guaranteed, and even well-accepted and established laws and norms can be attacked. Divorce is a social justice issue, an equality issue, and a violence prevention issue.
¹Wehle, Kimberly. “The Coming Attack on an Essential Element of Women’s Freedom.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 26 Sept. 2023, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/no-fault-divorce-laws-republicans-repeal/675371/.
²Rascoe, Ayesha. “Conservatives in Red States Turn Their Attention to Ending No-Fault Divorce Laws.” NPR, NPR, 7 July 2024, www.npr.org/2024/07/07/nx-s1-5026948/conservatives-in-red-states-turn-their-attention-to-ending-no-fault-divorce-laws.
³Willingham, AJ. “What Is No-Fault Divorce, and Why Do Some Conservatives Want to Get Rid of It?” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 Nov. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/us/no-fault-divorce-explained-history-wellness-cec/index.html#:~:text=A%202004%20paper%20by%20economists,women%20murdered%20by%20their%20partners.
⁴Ferrante, Rosemarie, and Amy Polacko. “Take It from a Divorce Coach and Attorney: Ending No-Fault Divorce Is a Scary Suggestion.” Ms. Magazine, 3 May 2024, msmagazine.com/2023/05/24/no-fault-divorce-women-republicans/.
⁵Berger, Eric. “Conservative US Lawmakers Are Pushing for an End to No-Fault Divorce.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 June 2024, www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/25/republicans-no-fault-divorce.
⁶Knefel, John. “After Roe, Conservatives Set Their Sights on Ending No-Fault Divorce Laws.” Media Matters for America, www.mediamatters.org/tim-pool/after-roe-conservatives-set-their-sights-ending-no-fault-divorce-laws.
⁷Willett, Beverly. “There Is No Republican Plot to End No-Fault Divorce – but There Should Be.” Washington Examiner, 7 Jan. 2024, www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/2771905/there-is-no-republican-plot-to-end-no-fault-divorce-but-there-should-be/.
⁸Horowitz, Justin. “Project 2025 Partners Want to Make Divorce a Lot Harder.” Media Matters for America, www.mediamatters.org/project-2025/project-2025-partners-want-make-divorce-lot-harder.
⁹North, Anna. “The Christian Right Is Coming for Divorce Next.” Vox, Vox, 13 June 2024, www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/354635/divorce-no-fault-states-marriage-republicans.
By Sophia Rubbo, NOW Government Relations Intern