Are Republicans aiming to strike down no-fault divorce?
No-fault divorce may be the next battleground amid concerted rightwing efforts to roll back hard-fought civil liberties.
Some rightwing lawmakers and members of the religious right are hoping to challenge the nationwide right to seek a divorce without having to prove infidelity, domestic abuse, or another instance of wrongdoing, The Guardian reported.
According to the outlet, Republicans in Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas have discussed restricting or outright barring no-fault divorce, which was first approved by California's Republican Governor Ronald Reagan in 1969.
Ohio Senator JD Vance, who is considered a top VP contender in Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, has also expressed opposition to no-fault divorce, even in cases of domestic violence.
"This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace," Vance said on the campaign trail back in 2021. "Which is the idea that like: 'Well, okay, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term."
House Speaker Mike Johnson has also been a long-time advocate for making divorce harder, blaming no-fault separations and expanded access to abortion care for today's "completely amoral society" in a 2016 sermon.
Are lawmakers really likely to repeal no-fault divorce?
Advocates warn that reinstituting the burden of proof of wrongdoing may keep many people in America trapped in abusive or harmful relationships.
While reversing divorce laws may now seem unlikely, the recent gutting of decades of abortion rights protections proves anything can happen.
"I do believe that that train has left the station. I mean, we have had no-fault divorce now for 50 years," Denise Lieberman, an adjunct professor at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, told The Guardian.
"I didn’t think the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, which we had for 50 years, so I suppose we will see," she added.
Cover photo: JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP