Washington State House Democrats

February 28, 2005

OLYMPIA – The House of Representatives voted XX-XX today to prevent judges from using a woman’s pregnancy as the sole basis for denying a divorce.

"We need to get this bill into law to protect the lives of pregnant women as well as their rights," said state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle), who authored the proposed law.

Dickerson introduced her proposal after a Spokane judge denied a divorce to Shawnna Hughes, a victim of domestic violence, because she was pregnant. Spokane Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine, who has since retired, justified his ruling in oral arguments by claiming that "it is the policy of the state that you cannot dissolve a marriage when one of the parties is pregnant."

"Ms. Hughes not only represents women in the state of Washington, but women all over the United States who are victims trying to escape domestic violence," her attorney, Teri Sloyer, told a public hearing on Dickerson’s bill.

Sloyer recounted that when Hughes sought the divorce her husband was in jail, in part due to domestic violence charges, and was subject to a restraining order preventing him from contacting Hughes. But when he was due for release from jail he sent Hughes "violent and graphic pictures from the jail that were causing her great concern about her physical safety and the safety of her two young sons," Sloyer said.

Although the Hughes case gained national notoriety, Dickerson learned it was not an isolated instance.

"There is no uniformity in the law nor in how judges view pregnancy in divorce proceedings," Dickerson said. "Similar rulings have been made on both sides of the Cascades."

Testifying for the Northwest Women’s Law Center, Sara Ainsworth confirmed that women in many parts of the state have been denied divorces because they were pregnant.

"Most recently, I have had callers from King, Snohomish and Skagit counties with the same issue presented in the Spokane case," Ainsworth said. "When there is domestic violence, it is not only bad policy, it is quite dangerous."

Dickerson’s legislation, House Bill 1171, prohibits courts from using pregnancy as the sole basis for denying or delaying a dissolution of marriage. The bill now moves to the Senate.

Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women, according to a study published by Journal of the American Medical Association in March 2001.