Legally-binding contracts are the backbone of any healthy civilization.
Whether you are renting an apartment, checking into the hospital, or servicing your car, commerce is encouraged by states that enforce contracts.
Enforceable contracts cover every conceivable kind of human agreement. But there is one, and only one, contract that Wyoming has made unenforceable. “No contract to marry made in this state shall give rise, either in or out of this state, to any right of action for the breach thereof” (1-23-101).
“Marriage is a civil contract,” according to Wyoming Statute 20-1-101. But not only does Wyoming refuse to enforce it, the state also threatens any married person, his or her lawyer, family, or friend who might attempt enforcement (1-23-102, 103).
It wasn’t always this way. For over a century, the Territory and, later, the State of Wyoming, listed grounds for divorce - from adultery to cruelty - that an aggrieved party could adjudicate before the court.
This enforcement mechanism served to discourage unfaithfulness to marriage vows as well as to provide some justice for the person who was thus defrauded.
Then in 1977, Reps. Walter Urbigkit and John Hursh brought House Bill 57. It was a radical rewrite of Wyoming marriage law that the House Judiciary Committee killed.
But it didn’t stay dead. HB 57 was cannibalized and amended into SF 76, an unremarkable cleanup bill that had been passed by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee.
This radicalized bill became a Trojan Horse that deleted all of Wyoming’s legal protections against divorce.
In one fell swoop approximately 90,000 married citizens in Wyoming were robbed of recourse to the courts.
Under the new regime, a faithless spouse could renege on his marriage vow with impunity. All it took was for him to unilaterally claim “irreconcilable differences.” No proof was needed. And no penalty applied.
Such “no-fault divorce” laws first appeared in 1917 when Communist ideologues imposed them on Russian citizens to “break down the traditional structure of the ‘bourgeois’ family.” Soon, the America Bar Association campaigned to bring them to America.
Then Gov. Ronald Reagan made California the first state to adopt the Soviet law. He later confessed that his 1969 signature was his “greatest regret.” But many other states followed suit. Wyoming resisted until SF 76 slipped in under the radar.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Divorce rates climbed significantly between 1960 and 1980 as laws changed from fault-based to no-fault.” Simultaneously, “‘Never-married’ rates rose from only 1% in 1965 to 13% by 2000.” After all, if the state won’t lift a finger to enforce its own legal contract, why involve the state at all?
“No-fault divorce” laws hurt both men and women. But they hurt children most of all.
“Before 1950, less than 2% of children lived with a single parent who was divorced, separated or never married. By 2000, nearly 25% did” - more than a 12-fold increase. “The effects of divorce often last into adulthood.” Children of divorced parents experience reduced income into their late 20s. They experience a 63% increase in teen birth rates, a 35-55% increased rate of early death, and triple the rate of incarceration.
For half a century, defenders of “no-fault divorce” have claimed that these tragic numbers are not necessarily caused by divorce itself. But a May 2025 study, conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, makes mincemeat of those claims. Its impeccable methodology and massive sample size (five million kids) clear away the smoke screen.
For the sake of the kids, it’s time to rethink “no-fault divorce.” Article 1, Section 8 of Wyoming’s Constitution mandates that “All courts shall be open and every person for an injury done to person, reputation or property shall have justice administered.” How can it be constitutional to deny the administration of justice to a defrauded spouse?
When children are involved, courts owe them an extra measure of due diligence. It is precisely in the interest of the state to prevent harm to children. And the divorce of his or her parents is a measurable harm.
A Heritage Foundation Report: “Saving America by Saving the Family,” shows the way. “To end America’s family crisis, policymakers and civic leaders should treat restoring the family home as a matter of justice, driven by two truths. The first is that all children have a right to the affection and protection of the man and woman who created them. The second is that the ideal environment in which to exercise this right is in a loving and stable home with their married biological parents.”
Expect howls of disapproval from the same cabal that created the crisis. Lawyers, in line with the Bar Association, will leverage lawfare to defend their domain. Ignore them and speak up for future children anyway.
Our family crisis didn’t happen naturally. It happened when progressives deleted a century of wisdom. The way back begins with righting that wrong.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/ Email: JLange64@protonmail.com
