Missouri Decides Pregnant Women Should Be Allowed to Leave Bad Marriages 

On Tuesday, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed a new law that would make it easier for pregnant women to get a divorce. (Unfortunately, not through the Giulia Tofana way.) The law, HB 1908, specifically targets a state measure enacted in the 1970s, which has historically prevented courts from granting divorces to couples if one of them is pregnant. 

Missouri is one of four states (including Arkansas, Texas, and Arizona) that make it difficult for pregnant people to get a divorce, and per the 1970 policy, women had to disclose whether they were pregnant before a judge made their final decision. 

The bill was sponsored by GOP lawmaker Cecelie Williams, who was in an abusive marriage and was denied a divorce from her then-husband 20 years ago because she was pregnant at the time. She says this policy is “pro-life” (which is anti-abortion) because pregnant women in unhappy marriages might otherwise feel abortion is their only way out. Which… is the wrong route to an actually good policy. 

Ultimately, Williams is saying she wants women to…have a choice. Now, if only Republicans could arrive at that conclusion without experiencing a hardship themselves. And if only they could then apply that logic to any decision a woman might want to make. 

“Pregnancy status shall not prevent the court from entering a judgment of dissolution of marriage or legal separation,” the new law states. It also prohibits judges from delaying any proceedings if one of the spouses is pregnant. 

But Williams isn’t the first lawmaker to try to get this law overturned. A Democrat tried first. 

State Rep. Ashley Aune (D-Platte County/Northland Kansas City) introduced a similar bill in 2023, but was told by her peers that it was unnecessary. “Unfortunately, it didn’t make it to the floor until a woman in our body had a personal experience and shared her personal trauma with the entire body and the entire world,” she told KFVS12 in February 2025. “Frankly, I’m glad it’s happening, but that’s disappointing.” 

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Williams said she felt “incredibly thankful” for the bill’s passing, which she’s been focusing on since becoming a first-term representative in 2025. “People listened to my story and understood the effects that this barrier has on women who are trying to escape their abusive relationships.” She’s shared her story to both chambers of Congress, recounting multiple instances of abuse from her ex-husband.

“If I would have chosen that day to go and have an abortion, I could have come back hours later and filed for divorce,” Williams told a Senate committee in March. Which is real ironic considering that today, GOP legislators are doing everything to eradicate that choice—with a certain Slenderman-shaped senator in Missouri leading the charge. 

But maybe next, the state can get rid of funding for anti-abortion centers, then get rid of the aforementioned anti-abortion Slendmerman, it’s anti-abortion AG, and Chappell Roan’s anti-abortion uncle.

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