American Republicans want to further drastically restrict women’s rights

“Women’s rights are human rights” or “Our bodies, our choice”, hundreds of thousands of people in the US and many other countries have been shouting on the streets for months. They fight for women’s rights. Against the tightening of abortion laws. They believe that no one should tell pregnant women whether they should have an abortion or not.

After months of protests against the tightening of abortion laws in some US states, the next front in the curtailment of women’s rights is now loud:

A growing right-wing movement of Republicans is now demanding an end to modern divorce laws. As far as possible in the US. One of them apparently: Steven Crowder, a well-known far-right podcaster.

Republicans want stricter divorce laws

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Crowder announced in one of his podcasts that he was getting a divorce. But: “No, that was not my choice”, he immediately emphasized. “My ex-wife decided she didn’t want to get married anymore, and that’s perfectly legal in the state of Texas.”

“The State of Texas” sounds like it’s the only US state where either party to a marriage can divorce at any time. Such a law currently applies in all 50 states of the US – for the so-called “no-fault” divorce. In other words, a divorce without prior “misconduct” by the affected partner, such as rape.

But that was a long way. It had taken more than four decades for the possibility of divorce solely on the grounds of misconduct to be abolished. California was the first US state to do so in 1969. In New York, the law was changed in 2010.

Today, more than two-thirds of all heterosexual divorces in the United States are initiated by women.

Republicans across the country are now calling for a repeat of the misconduct divorce, according to a Rolling Stone report. The reason apparently – similar to the crusade against abortion rights and birth control: control.

Texas, Steven Crowder’s home state, could be the first to pass such a new law change. At least when it comes to Republicans in Texas. Last year, they called on their platform to “repeat unilateral no-fault divorce laws” and “support covenant marriages.”

But such a proposal from the Republicans is also currently being discussed in Louisiana. The party reiterated its position that only childless couples should be entitled to a no-fault divorce. Children should be entitled to ‘married parents’.