A new divorce bill in Georgia is ripe for abuse and
bias. It's actually an amended bill. The original
bill would extend the waiting period for an
uncontested divorce from 30 days to 120 days for a
couple without children and 180 days for a couple with
children.
The amendment waives any waiting periods if one spouse
(almost always the wife) has "obtained a protective
order or alleged abuse in a formal statement." Common
sense dictates that judges do not make spouses stay
lock and key in a marriage if there is real abuse
going on. Women who are being abused have a plethora
of services available to them if they are being
abused. On the other hand, men will just keep it to
themselves because they have nowhere to turn.
Now, on the surface I agree with Sen. Mitch Seabaugh's
(R-Sharpsburg) measure to extend waiting periods.
Couples with or without children need to exhaust all
remedies before making a divorce - final. What really
spins my head around is the requirement that all
couples with children must take educational classes on
"the impact of separation or divorce on kids."
Who will teach these classes? How much are they going
to cost? The ones available at courts right now are a
joke. This all strikes me as Orwellian and reminds me
of the sissification of grown adults. Or mental
health screening. Why is the government in control of
the divorce process? The government won't even take a
strong stand against the drugging of our children with
drugs like Zoloft.
Getting back to why the bill had to be amended, let's
just be honest and admit Sen. Mitch Seabaugh
(R-Sharpsburg) and Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) bowed
down to domestic violence pressure groups like the
Georgia Commission on Family Violence. Spouses
(almost always the wife) will now be allowed, thanks
to Sen. Preston Smith, to "submit a confidential
affidavit to the court alleging domestic violence in
lieu of a public hearing."
This is great news for the billion dollar divorce
industry. The fact of the matter is domestic violence
and child abuse do not run nearly as rampant as we're
led to be believe, but now you can be sure false
allegations of abuse will be flying all over the place
even faster. This is why good intentions, such as
trying to put a temporary hold on divorces, are always
worse than the original problem once put into play by
the government.
I say if this new amended divorce bill is something
both Senators Smith and Seabaugh, along with Rebecca
Bukant, executive director of the Georgia Commission
on Family Violence, think will keep families together,
they're not thinking straight. Or seeing the big
picture clearly.
The real epidemic of false allegations will grow even
wider, and no one will dare introduce laws that will
punish those who make false allegations the same as a
real abuser. Families have been split apart by false
allegations, but all politicians and pressure groups
do when the legislature is in session is reinvent the
wheel and play politics. It's pathetic and dangerous.
Believe me, my heart goes out to the victims of real
domestic violence of both genders. Unfortunately, we
have politicized the process of divorce, so abuse and
bias will be even stronger now. Couples will think,
"Ok, I'll just sign something that says I'm being
abused, then I'm out of the marriage."
I challenge both Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg)
and Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) to put some teeth in
the amended divorce bill. That is, if you lie about
being the victim of domestic violence, you will be
sitting in jail. Period. End of discussion. If there
are no teeth in this amended divorce bill, it is ripe
for abuse and bias. And that's absolutely
disgraceful.
Tony Zizza serves as Vice President of the State of Georgia
for the organization,
Parents For Label and Drug Free
Education.
