Washington House Approves Bill To Ensure Pregnant Women Can Obtain Divorce

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 03 Mar 2005 - 0:00 PDT


The Washington state House on Monday approved 89-0 a bill... (HB 1171) that would prohibit judges from denying a married woman divorce because she is pregnant, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The legislation, which was sponsored by state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D), was "spurred" by the case of Shawnna Hughes of Spokane, Wash., who was denied a divorce from her allegedly abusive husband based only on the fact that she was pregnant at the time, according to the Post-Intelligencer. Dickerson said Hughes' case has not been the only such incident in the state, adding that judges statewide are using their personal interpretation of the law to make decisions about divorce, according to the Post-Intelligencer. The legislation would create uniformity by adding to state law a line saying, "In considering a petition for dissolution of marriage, a court shall not use a party's pregnancy as the sole basis for denying or delaying the entry of a decree of dissolution of marriage" (Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/1). The bill now goes to the state Senate (AP/Spokane Spokesman-Review, 3/1).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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