(LifeSiteNews) — On June 13, the Texas GOP’s State Convention in Houston passed a slate of legislative priorities for 2026-2028 — and took aim at no-fault divorce. Under the heading “Protect Texas Kids,” the party stated that the goal of the state Republicans is to “promote marriage and strong families”:
As marriage and strong families are the best protection for children, promote and respect marriage, family unity, parenting, and parental rights across all state agencies, including CPS (child protective services) and schools. Ban same-sex adoption. End no-fault divorce. When a marriage breaks down, family law proceedings should respect 50/50 equal parenting presumptions in the best interest of children.
Ending or rolling back no-fault divorce has been part of the Texas GOP’s platform for years; this year, however, the policy has been put front and center as a “legislative priority.” Beginning in 2018, the platform advocated for “rescind(ing) no-fault divorce laws and support(ing) covenant marriage”; in 2024, Plank 185 called for rewriting the Family Code, rescinding no-fault divorce, and requiring a six-month wait and counseling before divorce.
No-fault divorce, which permits spouses to simply end a marriage without proving that one spouse has done anything wrong, has been Texas law since 1970. No-fault divorce usually means that one spouse does not agree to the divorce; the court grants it on the basis of “irreconcilable differences.” The law was proposed as a way for wives in abusive situations to swiftly exit a marriage without engaging in a lengthy and potentially expensive court battle. Previously, spouses seeking to end a marriage would have to prove wrongdoing.
The Texas GOP has been clear that any law would carefully address dangerous situations. Asked about the policy in 2023, Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi told a press outlet that “the Texas GOP would oppose any changes in law that would negatively impact domestic violence victims and support safeguards in any family law changes to ensure that domestic violence can swiftly and easily escape abusive relationships.”
“Divorce laws both create and reflect a reality about marriage,” Scott Yenor wrote for the Institute for Family Studies in 2023. “When divorce is difficult or impossible to secure, marriage is thought of as an enduring, tighter community, and small irritants can be forgotten or forgiven. When divorce is easy to secure, partners in a marriage tend to think of themselves as individuals first before marriage partners, and marriages can dissolve easily.”
After no-fault divorce became the norm across America, Yenor noted, “the number of divorces soared. Destabilizing marriage ended up making marriage less attractive — and marriage rates have plummeted from 72% before the reforms to under 50% in 2022. Commentators find it increasingly difficult to talk about the tragedy of divorce as more people divorced. Poverty and suicide increased for children of divorce, as did depression, drug use, and crime.” Additionally, most divorces “are initiated not for abuse, infidelity or desertion, but for relatively minor and transient reasons like irreconcilable differences, drifting apart, or lack of emotional support.”
The Sexual Revolution has ravaged the natural family since the 1970s; Mary Eberstadt has referred to this as “the Great Scattering,” the largest-scale breakup of families outside of war or natural disaster in recorded human history. Whether legal changes to how the state deals with marriage can mitigate some of the fallout from no-fault divorce is an open question. What is clear is that marriage, as an institution, was first destroyed, then redefined, and finally, increasingly abandoned.
