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Legislatures taking interest in marriage
Friday, March 27, 1998 By Ervin Dyer, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Religious groups aren't the only ones interested in keeping marriages together. Some state legislatures have also jumped on board.
Last year, Louisiana enacted the country's first optional "covenant marriage" contract. For those who choose the approach, the covenant marriage agreement says that if a couple decide to get divorced, they must first prove adultery, felony, abuse or abandonment. So far, more than 400 couples have chosen the so-called "high-test" marriage procedure.
Ohio is considering a similar measure.
Proponents of making divorce tougher have been pushing "covenant marriage" as a step toward reversing no-fault divorce, which allows couples to dissolve a marriage after a brief separation.
In Pennsylvania, a 1996 bill was introduced to repeal the commonwealth's no-fault divorce statute as part of a "family values" legislative package. The attempt failed.
Advocates of such bills say that if divorces were more difficult to get, couples might work harder on saving their unions.
But opponents say divorces don't generally occur just because it's easy to break up, and that forcing unhappy couples to stay together would be more harmful than letting them split up.
Other states -- Missouri, Michigan, Arizona and Florida -- are concentrating on the front end of marriage. They have legislation pending or in the works that would make a marriage license more difficult -- or even impossible -- to get without proof that the couple have seen a counselor.
All the bills are aimed partly at protecting the welfare of children -- and lessening states' financial obligations -- in the aftermath of divorce.
Michael McManus, the founder of the nonprofit Marriage Savers Institute, said those were legitimate concerns.
But he said the objective should be not to make divorce more difficult, but to make marriage more satisfying for both partners. Doing this, he said, eliminates the need to seek a divorce.
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