Is No-Fault Divorce Under Threat?

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1969 California became the first state to adopt no-fault divorce – allowing people to end their marriages without proving spousal wrongdoing. Other states quickly followed suit. For a half-century, couples haven’t had to endure protracted legal battles for every split, nor do they need to allege adultery or force their children to go to court, just to get a divorce. Now, some conservative activists – following their attacks on reproductive rights and IVF – are denouncing no-fault divorce, saying it makes splitting up families too easy. Advocates for no-fault say the data show that restricting divorce leads to increased death and injury within families, especially for women and people experiencing domestic violence. We’ll talk about the threats to no-fault divorce and analyze the history and future of divorce, in California and nationwide. Guests: Joanna Grossman, Chair in Women and the Law, Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law; visiting professor, Stanford Law School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KQIWID podcasts comes from Rancho LaPuerta, a wellness resort 45 minutes from San Diego.
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0:16.9	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:24.4	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:30.8	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia.
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0:57.7	From KQED in San Francisco, this is Forum. I'm Mina Kim.
1:19.0	The right to legally end a marriage without having to prove to a judge that a spouse committed wrongdoing in order to leave, such as abuse or adultery, is the standard in all 50 states,
1:29.1	and has been in California for more than 50 years. But some prominent Republicans and state
1:34.6	lawmakers have been decrying and even trying to take away the right to no-fault divorce,
1:40.4	saying it hurts men, families, or undermines the sanctity of marriage.
1:50.1	Now some legal scholars and political analysts are warning we should pay attention to these efforts and rhetoric.
1:52.1	And this hour, we look at why.
1:56.5	Could we see a future where unhappy couples are forced by law to stay married?
1:57.5	Join us.
2:02.4	Welcome to Forum.
2:03.5	I'm Mina Kim.
2:09.4	When right-wing commentator Stephen Crowder last year publicly lamented that his wife was leaving him, he also complained that the state of Texas permitted this.
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