Posts Distort Missouri Divorce Law Regarding Pregnancy

Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. Quick Take There’s no law in Missouri that prevents pregnant women from getting divorced. But social media posts claim Missouri women “cannot divorce their spouse if they are pregnant.” Legal experts told us a judge may wait to finalize a divorce until after a baby is born to determine custody and other arrangements. Full Story Nowhere in Missouri law does it say pregnant women are barred from getting divorced. But a judge handling a case where one party is pregnant may wait to finalize that divorce until the baby is born, which, experts told us, is done in order to consolidate custody and child-support agreements with other end-of-marriage arrangements. This can happen in other states, too. But recent posts on social media have revived an old claim that first circulated in 2022, saying, “Women in Republican-controlled Missouri cannot divorce their spouse if they are pregnant.” That version of the claim was shared by Brian Tyler Cohen, a liberal commentator with a large social media following who we’ve written about before. His Instagram post garnered more than 10,000 likes and was copied and reposted by others, including MSNBC commentator Joy Reid....