Missouri State Rep. Ashley Aune (D) on Monday explained why she introduced a bill that would allow divorce while a woman is pregnant, which state law currently forbids.
Aune introduced the bill after she learned about the current Missouri law — which states that judges cannot legally finalize a divorce if a woman is pregnant — while touring a domestic violence shelter.
“One issue they brought to me is that they have a lot of women who are victims of reproductive coercion,” Aune said in a radio interview on “Up to Date” on KCUR. “That can look a lot of different ways, but oftentimes it looks like preventing reproductive care, preventing contraceptive access, keeping a partner pregnant, essentially, in a lot of cases. So women are coming to them with four, six, eight children, escaping a domestic violence situation, and they are actually building new housing to accommodate these large families.”
Proponents of Missouri’s current law say that it helps ensure child custody and child support, but Aune said she had heard from both men and women who have been negatively affected by the restrictions.
“I've heard stories from both genders about this being something that has kept them in a marriage they didn't want to be in,” Aune said. “This is not just an issue that affects women.”
“Imagine a situation where a man wants to get a divorce and the wife doesn't want that to happen, and so she gets pregnant on purpose, right? She maybe doesn't communicate her own birth control issues. Like, this is something that happens to both parties.”
Three other states, Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas, have similar divorce laws. While couples in Missouri can still file for divorce, legally the court must wait until after a woman gives birth in order to finalize child custody and child support.
