Pregnant Missouri women have right to divorce, lawmakers clarify in soon-to-be law

Jack Harvel, The Kansas City Star on Mar 12, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The first bill Missouri lawmakers sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk would affirm the right of pregnant women to get divorced.

Judges aren’t currently prohibited from issuing divorces to a pregnant couple, but the statute governing dissolutions of marriage includes whether the wife is pregnant in the divorce petition. The inclusion has led judges to consider it when processing divorce proceedings.

“In 1974, we gave women financial independence but then in the same breath handcuffed them by allowing pregnancy to become a condition of divorce,” Cecelie Williams, a Dittmer Republican who sponsored the bill, said.

The bill passed unanimously in both chambers. Kehoe specifically named the bill as a priority in his annual State of the State address in January, and tied it to opposition to abortion.

Pregnant women are at an increased risk of domestic violence, with nearly 20% of women experiencing violence during pregnancy, according to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.

Similar bills have passed in the House before, but have died in the Senate. Senate Majority Floor Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, commended the bipartisan efforts to clarify the law.

“The Senate truly agreed earlier this week and finally passed legislation allowing pregnant women to file for divorce, and we did it in a bipartisan way,” Luetkemeyer said. “No woman should ever be legally prevented from seeking a divorce simply because she is pregnant.”

Missouri Democrats have offered similar bills in the past session, and the current bill did combine Williams’ legislation with one introduced by Rep. Raychel Proudie, a Ferguson Democrat.

During a press conference on Thursday, House Minority Leader Ashley Aune said she was “incredibly proud” that the bill is going to the Governor’s desk, but that she suspected the timing was to draw attention away from a controversial tax reform bill.

“While I am so very grateful for that bipartisan work, I’ll also remind folks that I carried that bill for two years, and it never even made it out of committee,” Aune said. “It is a partisan game. If I was still the only carrier of that bill, it would not be going to the governor’s desk.”

_____