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The turning point for Destonee was a car ride.

She describes a scene of emotional abuse: Pregnant with her third child, her husband yelled at her while her older two kids listened in the car. "He would call me awful things in front of them," she says. "And soon my son would call me those names too."

She made up her mind to leave him, but when she went to a lawyer to file for divorce, she was told to come back when she was no longer pregnant.

Destonee requested she be identified by only her first name. She says she still lives with abusive threats from her ex-husband. She couldn't end her marriage because Missouri law requires women seeking divorce to disclose whether they're pregnant — and state judges won't finalize divorces during a pregnancy. Established in the 1970s, the rule was intended to make sure men were financially accountable for the children they fathered.

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[-] PoopSpiderman@lemmy.world 116 points 1 month ago

Women are property. That’s conservative shit. They want this to be the norm. All conservatives are bastards.

[-] snownyte@kbin.social 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

And I don't understand why any woman votes conservative, knowing that conservatives actively want to destroy their rights. They already done so with abortion.

[-] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Because most women don't need or want an abortion and the news doesn't cover the rest.

[-] Regna@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Many, if not most, women (who are either voluntarily sexually active or involuntarily) will eventually need an abortion (due to miscarriage, foetal abnormalities or other crisises), plan B or birth control of some sort, but most will not admit it.

I stock up on plan B and misoprostol to help, or know where to guide people to seek help so that they’re safe medically. I’d quite confidently say that most women, at least that I know, have needed this kind of aid sooner or later in their lives.

[-] AquaTofana@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Worse than that. They just don't care. My mother is a HUGE Conservative, and she had an abortion back in the 80s right before she got pregnant with me. When I confronted her about it, she said: "Well, there are more options more widely available for women who want to avoid pregnancy today than there were back then."

And I asked about women who work pay check to pay check and can't really afford a $50 OTC Plan B pill whenever they want to have sex, and she said "Well, they better afford it. It's cheaper than going to get an abortion even where it is legal!" 😮‍💨

[-] Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Lack of empathy. In their minds it will never be them who is tricked into an abusive marriage or will need the abortion or get sick or hurt and need assistance or want things people twll them they shouldn't. Those are the things that happen to the dumb and immoral people do and to their mind those people deserve to struggle as consequences for their sins. They are comfortable feeling that they are counted among the narrowly defined righteous and they will never waver... Because deep down they know that if they let go of that comfort of feeling absolutely resolute they are the model on which the rest of womanhood should aspire to be then they have to reckon with all the pain they caused to people.

[-] Smoogs@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

At the base of it please remember anyone who you can define to be in a group by identity are at base still a human. All humans are capable of fucking up, being stupid or tricked with words regardless of their appearance. That there is why your disgust or respect should be assessed at them being a human regardless of their gender. Equal rights and everything

[-] mPony@lemmy.world 76 points 1 month ago

It's pretty upsetting to begin with, but if you change the wording to: "Pregnant women in Missouri don't have the right to get divorced" it's somehow even worse.

[-] UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev 11 points 1 month ago

The original intent seems to be the opposite. It was supposed to stop men from divorcing and avoiding financial responsibility of the child, it's in the article.

It's an awful rule even with that in mind though.

[-] mPony@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

yeah it's not like they couldn't write something into law that dictates financial responsibility doesn't magically disappear when a divorce goes through. Pretty sure that's how it works in most places.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Exactly, if you’re married at time of pregnancy and don’t have evidence of infidelity it should be assumed that you’re the father. But this is Missouri, it may be about finances, but it’s unlikely that that’s the entire goal.

[-] UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago

I don't know much about how USA/Missouri was in 1970, but I'll assume there was/is a lot of laws based around marriage as that was the norm for families back in the days. Might be as simple as the lawmakers being lazy and deciding it was easier to force people to stay married for the duration so they got the full legal framework as "protection".

[-] NABDad@lemmy.world 56 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

... state judges won't finalize divorces during a pregnancy. Established in the 1970s, the rule was intended to make sure men were financially accountable for the children they fathered.

So, I'm assuming if you knock someone up in Missouri without being married, you don't have to pay child support?

Are judges in Missouri just too damn stupid to include conceived but as yet unborn children in any child support requirements?

Or perhaps, it's just about making sure men can continue to abuse their own "property"?

[-] LimeZest@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 1 month ago

This law came around before DNA sequencing was common, they probably had some kind of archaic law making it hard to pin paternity on an unmarried father since you couldn’t just order a DNA test to show who created the baby.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago
[-] datavoid@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

That's crazy

[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

Well domestic violence is a cornerstone of Missouri Republican and the greater Republican party set of values after all.

[-] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 23 points 1 month ago

Under his eye.

[-] kokesh@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

What? For reals?

[-] BlackNo1@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago
[-] Classy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago
[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

seriously

Dont glass it. theres good farmland there.

Just virusbomb it. #40kSolutions

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Nah we just gotta do us a reconstruction. We always were supposed to. Unfortunately capitalists really fucked it up

[-] kaffiene@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago
[-] FatTony@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Sounds reasonable.

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this post was submitted on 04 May 2024
446 points (99.1% liked)

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