NC Legislators Austin Allran, Warren Daniel Healthy Marriage Act Proposes Rigorous Divorce Regulations

Here we go again, Republicans trying to throw their weight around and force their views on others — Sen. Austin Allran (R-Hickory), the primary sponsor of the Healthy Marriage Act, and Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Morganton), are trying to keep people in bad situations, because of their self-righteousness. The pair want to make it harder for estranged couples to get a divorce by forcing them to wait longer and go to counseling. Um, let’s see how many shoot their ‘estranged spouses’ rather than waiting. There’s a lot going on in North Carolina these days, where the Republicans are concerned. In addition to the Healthy Marriage Act proposal, they are also trying to curb early voting. Yeah, that would be voter suppression.

The Healthy Marriage Act would extend to two years the current one-year waiting period in order for a divorce to be finalized. During that time, the couple would have to complete courses on improving their communications skills and conflict resolution.

If the couple has children, they would have to take at least a four-hour class on the impact of divorce on children.

Separated couples could resume living together during the two-year waiting period, under the bill. Either the husband or the wife would have to have lived in North Carolina for six months before filing for divorce.

It would also strike from the current law a provision that says “isolated incidents of sexual intercourse” don’t count against the one-year waiting period. It’s not clear if that means an occasional fling with your estranged partner does count against you under the proposed law. Source

I guess they didn’t hear about retired trooper Mark Miscavish gunning down his estranged wife, Tracie Miscavish, at a County Market supermarket in Philipsburg, Pa., days after she filed for divorce.  He was charged with assault after beating his wife in an earlier incident. So, had this law being proposed by these two Republicans been in place in Philipsburg, Tracie Miscavish would have been dead the moment she mentioned the word divorce.

Once again, Republicans are trying to run the lives of women in this country through this ridiculous piece of legislation, the Healthy Marriage Act. Like Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner says to the GOP, “get out of my panties.”  The sanctity of marriage, in their view, is more important than a woman or man remaining in an abusive situation that could quite possibly end in murder-suicide. It’s mindboggling that forcing a woman to stay in a failed and toxic relationship is more important than supporting gun control legislation. This is further proof that the Republican Party isn’t listening to Americans.

Just as I said, the bill doesn’t address domestic violence situations. In fact, it would force a battered wife to stay in the marriage for two more years. If that’s not a recipe for a murder-suicide, then I don’t know what else is. It’s shameful that Rep. Warren Daniel could propose such a dangerous bill when he sits on the Domestic Violence Commission.

This unhealthy bill intrudes on a very personal decision. If you’re a battered spouse, a parent of an abused child or married to an alcoholic or drug addict, a communications skills course is useless. It could be dangerous to wait two years to extricate yourself from a hopeless situation.

Daniel should know about these issues: He sits on the state Domestic Violence Commission. And his home turf of Burke County isn’t exactly the divorce capital of North Carolina: 3.8 per 1,000 people, right on the state average. Sanderson’s district includes Carteret County, which has a divorce rate of 4.2. As for Allran, he represents the happily and unhappily married couples of Alexander and Catawba counties; their divorce rates—2 and 3.4—are below the national and state average. Source

Here’s the Healthy Marriage Act:

NC Rep. Austin Allran Proposes Rigorous Divorce Regulations Via The Healthy Marriage Act Bill