Right-wing YouTube star Steven Crowder released a segment in June 2022, on the heels of the Dobbs ruling, in which he mused that “no-fault divorce…means that in many of these states, if a woman cheats on you, she leaves, she takes half. So it’s not no-fault, it’s the fault of the man.” Crowder added, “There need to be changes to marital laws, and I’m not even talking about same-sex marriage. Talking about divorce laws, talking about alimony laws, talking about child support laws.” (Earlier that month, Tim Pool, another host popular on the right, posted a video titled “No-Fault Divorce Has DESTROYED Men’s Confidence In Marriage, Men Don’t Want To Get Married Anymore.”)
Texas is a laboratory of misogynistic legislation. It’s the state where Roe was effectively dismissed with SB 8, a law banning nearly all abortions almost a year before the Dobbs decision was passed down. Texas is also the state where Trump-appointed US district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk halted the FDA approval of mifepristone despite its being approved since 2000. (Meanwhile, doctors in Texas are grappling with the horrors of a post-Roe world and waiting to see their real toll; as one told The New Yorker, “Sepsis will likely be one of the leading causes of maternal death in our state, or at least the biggest delta [change] in morbidity.”)
It’s notable that Kacsmaryk also once took aim at no-fault divorce in the National Catholic Register, writing that Reagan’s signing of the Family Law Act of 1969 caused the “first pillar” to fall when it came to marriage law. According to Kacsmaryk, who was then deputy general counsel for the First Liberty Institute, the other two “pillars” fell when states “eliminated legal penalties for fornication and adultery” and when the Supreme Court affirmed the rights to abortion and contraception.
Crowder’s own marriage has made headlines lately, after a three-minute video of him emotionally abusing his then pregnant wife was posted. Crowder later addressed his divorce. “No, this was not my choice,” Crowder said. “My then wife decided that she didn’t want to be married anymore—and in the state of Texas, that is completely permitted.” In every state, no-fault divorces are the law of the land, giving women the same rights as men. Of course, if Republicans wanted women to have the same rights as men, they wouldn’t have crushed the Equal Rights Amendment with such zeal.
Texas isn't a monolith. In fact Democrat President LBJ came from Texas. Ann Richards(D) was governor there not too long ago. Austin is a very, deep blue city.
In fact, as more Californians move there along with millions of illegal aliens, it could return to being a blue state.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
