Missouri Republican legislators have crossed new lines in government overreach. Not only are they championing the destruction of women’s roles in traditional family, they are about to endorse an invasion of privacy against women that will blow your mind.

As they stealthily advance HB194/SB307, bills that will redefine, or should I say permanently disparage, the value women contribute to traditional marriage they are about to open the door to becoming “relationship police” for women after they divorce.

Both bills contain similar language that would terminate an already diminished maintenance for any woman who enters into a “mutually supportive relationship” for a period of 12 months more after divorce.

“An order awarding maintenance is subject to modification or termination if it can be shown that the recipient and another person have entered into a mutually supportive relationship that is the functional equivalent of marriage that has existed for at least twelve months of an eighteen-month period.”

What is the definition of “mutually supportive?” Is dating mutually supportive if he buys dinner? Is it a defined by a sexual relationship? Would it be mutually supportive for friends to live together to share expenses be defined as “mutually supportive?” If parents help young divorced mothers with a few bucks to cover the rent be considered “mutually supportive?”

Where does it start and where does it end?

And while some men will be subjected to this intrusion, only about three percent of men actually receive maintenance according to the last census, so women are going to be the main target of this intrusion of privacy.

And just incase the right to privacy of such an intrusive/invasive legislation has escaped you, let me offer this argument.

Justice Brandeis’s dissent in Olmstad v. U.S in 1928 is still the standard bearer in the discussion.

“The makers of our Constitution understood the need to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness, and the protections guaranteed by this are much broader in scope, and include the right to life and an inviolate personality — the right to be left alone — the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. The principle underlying the Fourth and Fifth Amendments is protection against invasions of the sanctities of a man’s home and privacies of life. This is a recognition of the significance of man’s spiritual nature, his feelings, and his intellect.”

There are quite a number of things wrong with this legislation. Not the least of which is how egregiously it diminishes the value women bring to raising families and caring for the home. The sacrifices they make in career advancement is completely disregarded to the point of being blatantly misogynist.

It should not go unnoticed that with Missouri’s No-Fault-Divorce laws in place judges can and do ignore infidelity in marriage and impose no punitive damages for breaking the marriage contract. But …

Now women will be forever be required to justify their behavior in relationships, post divorce, in order to keep the temporary scraps of support awarded them by family courts.

Is it possible to reduce women to a lower form of chattel? Is there any other more oppressive form of subjugation that can be exacted against women after divorce?

Perhaps we should ask the Republicans in the Missouri legislature.

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