A Missouri law that went into effect on Friday clarifies that pregnancy should not prevent a judge from issuing a divorce.
Previously, a member of a pregnant couple could file for divorce in Missouri, but a 1973 statute implied a judge could prevent it from being finalized.
State Rep. Cecelie Williams, R-Dittmer, who sponsored the bill, said the new law will help people leave abusive relationships. The measure received bipartisan support in the legislature.
"Especially in the case of domestic abuse, being able to provide separation from your spouse is incredibly important. Oftentimes, abuse escalates when you're pregnant. Intimate partner violence is the No. 1 cause of death in pregnant women," she said. "This will give families and women the opportunity to go out on their own and be able to protect themselves and their children."
For Williams, the matter is of personal importance. She has spoken about how a judge denied her a divorce from her abusive husband when she was pregnant in 2005.
"The barrier kept me in a very dangerous situation," she said.
The new law also allows someone to divorce a partner in the case that their spouse gets pregnant with someone else's baby — something Williams said happened to one of her constituents.
"A young man who was deployed in the military was gone for nine months, he came home, and his wife was five months pregnant. He too couldn't finalize his divorce, even though that child was no way his," she said. "He is presumed the father until a DNA test proves otherwise."
Family law attorney Kirk Stange said that while he sees no problem with judges allowing divorce during pregnancy, he wishes the new law contained specific language for how the courts should arrange custody, paternity and child support.
"It would have been helpful — and it would save parties a lot of money in fees — if our statute was clearer," he said. "The most simplistic way to do it would be to grant the divorce, bifurcate it, and once that baby's born, then the parties could deal with custody under the divorce statute, but there's no language specifically authorizing bifurcation in Missouri."
Bifurcation, he added, is common in California. The process involves granting a divorce while delaying certain agreements of the divorce, including how a couple will deal with property ownership, debt and child custody.
"It would be great if that was in Missouri statutes, but it's not," he said.
Williams said she is open to suggestions to improve state law.
"I am more than willing to talk with Mr. Stange about those statutes that he thinks might make this a bit easier for lawyers and judges, and be able to file that and get that moving through the Statehouse," she said.
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