Muddying the Waters on Divorce Reform

Binkyboy shows a gut-wrenching video of a woman being verbally abused by husband and she confides that she was physically abused as well. Binks then uses this to attack Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance:

Watching this, with his good Christian cross resting prominantly on his chest as he beats and berates his wife is about as disgusting as anything can get. Yet this woman is trying to accomplish EXACTLY what Bryan Fischer and other religiously motivated men are trying to do to society: reduce the ability of a woman to get a divorce and to drive women to hide these kinds of abuses from society because they are taught that it is “only their fault”.

Now, I think there’s a typo in there, but regardless Binks is mis-representing the issue. Bryan Fischer has called for changing no-fault divorce laws. What is no fault divorce?

To get a no fault divorce, one spouse must simply state a reason for the divorce that is recognized by the state. In most states, it’s enough to declare that the couple cannot get along (this reason goes by such names as “incompatibility,” “irreconcilable differences,” or “irremediable breakdown of the marriage”). 

“No fault” divorce describes any divorce where the spouse asking for a divorce does not have to prove that the other spouse did something wrong. All states allow no fault divorces.

That’s “No Fault” divorce. You can get divorced for any reason. You can take “The music died” and turn it into a no fault divorce. What’s still available is a “fault divorce” and one of the grounds for divorce is “extreme cruelty.” That’s entirely seperate from the issue of no fault divorce.

Either Binky Boy is being intellectually dishonest, he doesn’t under the issue or he’s playing emotional propaganda games without regards to the facts.