Justina Ledbetter
10-23-2011

What is the meaning of love? Is love meant to be used and then later thrown away? Love was created for two people, and when those people get married, it is a forever thing. Yes, fights, disagreements, and pain come between every married couple, but that should not mean you walk out on them when you have had enough. This makes marriage to simple, to easy. You can marry anyone you want, and you can leave him or her whenever you want, making the marriage rate go down. Even while keeping track of lower marriage rates, divorce rates over the past decade have remained pretty much the same. So, why the attempt to counsel couples before divorce?
Recent attempts to do so have failed. In 2009, Texas rejected a bill proposing that every person with a young child must complete 10 hours of mandatory divorce counseling. Also, in 2008, Oklahoma rejected a bill proposing that couples would be required to see a therapist or counselor before ending their marriage. The recent outbreak of proposed bills raises many questions. First, why now? The marriage to divorce rate has increased over the past decade. Not that the current divorce rate is anything to brag about, it has significantly decreased since the 1980s and 1990s. Maybe examining the reasons for what has helped to lower the rates over the past decades before trying to push for divorce is what we really need.
Second, why have legislators chosen to take over decision-making normally handled by state court judges? Judges within their discretion prior to dissolving a marriage often order pre-divorce counseling. Judges handling specific matters are better suited to determine whether a couple may benefit from therapy, without thinking of whether it is focused on trying to save a marriage or ease the path for a more peaceful closure. Therefore, family courts and staff are in a better position to get available resources. .
Fourth, is this even constitutional? Critics point out that the proposed bills slow down on individual constitutional rights by creating problems to end a marriage. Forty years ago, the Supreme Court struck down a state law that