Republicans are starting to take action on their threats to get rid of no-fault divorce as multiple red states file legislation to legalize and incentivize covenant marriages.
Currently, every state in the U.S. offers some form of no-fault divorce option for individuals seeking to dissolve their marriages. However, only 17 states are considered “true” no-fault divorce states, meaning no-fault divorce is the only option for filing for divorce. A no-fault divorce simply allows someone to file for divorce without having to prove that the divorce results from some wrongdoing on their partner’s part. It removes the burden of requiring someone to prove that their marriage should be dissolved. Unfortunately, conservatives have increasingly expressed interest in getting rid of no-fault divorces. It’s well-known that women are far more likely to file for divorce than men because they are more likely to experience abuse, infidelity, and other harm in marriage. However, conservatives are concerned that it’s too easy for women to get a divorce and that it’s not fair to men.
Now, conservatives have found a roundabout way to take away no-fault divorce from some women through covenant marriages.
Why Republican states are pushing for covenant marriages
Today, only three states in America — Louisana, Arkansas, and Arizona — offer the option of covenant marriages. Meanwhile, it has been decades since any state has officially passed covenant marriage acts, which is why it’s alarming that three states recently proposed covenant marriage bills in quick succession. Within days of Donald Trump winning re-election, Texas introduced a Covenant Marriage bill, with Missouri and Oklahoma following suit in early 2025. These laws want to allow individuals to enter into a covenant marriage.
A covenant marriage is a type of marriage in which an individual declares and signs a written statement agreeing that marriage is a “covenant” and is meant to be “for life.” The only requirements to enter a covenant marriage are to sign/state the declaration of intent, confirm they understand the Covenant Marriage Act, and agree to premarital counseling. Getting out of a covenant marriage, though, is much more difficult because it gets rid of the option of no-fault divorce. In agreeing to a covenant marriage, the individuals also agree that they can only seek divorce in the case of abuse, abandonment, or adultery. Meanwhile, the individual seeking the divorce must “demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence” that one of those three things occurred. The bills also have various other obstacles to divorce, such as requiring counseling first or, in Missouri’s proposed bill, requiring a two-year waiting/separation period before divorce is granted.
TikTok user @pullupspastapolitics described the dangers of covenant marriages, including warning that these lawmakers often “dangle tax credits in front of poor couples” to bribe them into these marriages. However, they actually tend to financially hurt couples because these individuals are required to get premarital counseling and pay for it themselves. She also explained in plain terms what “preponderance of evidence” means. She states, “He needs to be leaving bruises all over your body, or you need to videotape.” If it’s a type of emotional, financial, or physical abuse that doesn’t leave much tangible evidence, though, one has no way to secure a divorce. In the comments, users noted that the bills sound like “The start of the handmaid’s tale.”
The goal of these bills is not to promote healthy marriages but to force women to remain in their marriages “for life” as a way to control them. These bills promote tax credits or invoke religion to pressure unsuspecting young women into these marriages to take away their option of divorce. Further Covenant Marriage Acts could follow. However, they’re not the only bills targeting women. Since Trump won the election, numerous Republican lawmakers have been emboldened, which is why we’re seeing a flurry of bills introduced by Republican men that relate to women. In addition to covenant marriages, Republicans are also pushing to force victims of rape and incest seeking an abortion to sign affidavits under penalties of perjury, to make abortion punishable with the death penalty, and to revolutionize women’s health care to prioritize “the needs of men.” Combined, these bills certainly could be the start of The Handmaid’s Tale in America.
Published: Jan 21, 2025 01:27 pm