HOW DIVORCE DESTROYS FAMILIES: A SECULAR ARGUMENT

The public purpose of marriage is for the welfare of the mother, father, and their children. When
we discuss the social issue regarding divorce, we should not just look at the private desires of the
couples but also the needs of the children. Some people may object that not every marriage has
children. However, all children have parents. Because the state has the authority to define
marriage, the state should be focused on the common good of society, particularly in protecting
the sanctity of marriage. In this article, the sanctity of marriage pertains to its indissolubility
because it is originally an inviolable institution as stated in the Family Code of the Philippines.

Others think that the only reason why we are against divorce is because of religious arguments
but there are also secular arguments against it. There are evidences that divorce harms the
family. Advocates of divorce think that giving legal recognition to divorce will solve the abuses
that women experience. However, there is a study that suggests that there is no decrease in
domestic violence after divorce and remarriage. On the other hand, there was an increase of 3.7%
in intimate partner violence in Mexico.

Since the government is focused on addressing the needs of the children, we should also consider
how divorce affects them. In the results of the 2021 study, it is suggested that Lebanese teen
students with divorced parents have a higher chance of depression, social fear, avoidance, and
suicidal ideation. Because of divorce, the emotional stress affects the child’s school life leading
to poor academic performance. Even adult children of divorce (ACOD) become affected by the
negative consequences of divorce such as additional stressors and questioning of their family and
individual identity.

The issue of divorce is an issue of redefining marriage. If the divorce bill is passed into law, all
of the marriage contracts will have divorce options and become dissoluble. In annulment, all
valid marriages are indissoluble in nature, meaning that only death can dissolve such marriages,
but separation and remarriage are still granted if the marriage is proved to be invalid. This means
that there were some conditions not fulfilled at the moment they made their marital vows. When
there is declaration of nullity or annulment, the couples are not bound to practice their marital
vows because their marriage does not exist in the first place. Annulment does not make
marriages like cheap contracts which can be terminated anytime by both parties. Unlike divorce,
it does not claim that the marriage was valid then was dissolved.

The debate on the divorce bill is a discourse on the proper understanding of marriage in this
society. Children need to be born and raised by married couples committed to one another and
faithful to their vows - a marriage that is permanent and indissoluble. As such, the children
should be protected from the harm due to divorce that causes these changes in family structures.
There are solutions to the problems raised by pro-divorce advocates without the need to further
cause damage to marriage as an inviolable institution. If pro-divorce advocates do not support
abuse because of its negative consequences, how much more should we reject divorce itself?
References:

García-Ramos, A. (2021). Divorce laws and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Mexico.
Journal of Development Economics, 150, 102623.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102623

Obeid, S., Al Karaki, G., Haddad, C., Sacre, H., Soufia, M., Hallit, R., Salameh, P., & Hallit, S.
(2021). Association between parental divorce and mental health outcomes among Lebanese
adolescents: Results of a national study. BMC Pediatrics, 21(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02926-3

O’Hara, K. L., Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S. A., & Tein, J.-Y. (2019). Coping in context: The
effects of long-term relations between interparental conflict and coping on the development
of child psychopathology following parental divorce. Development and Psychopathology,
31(5), 1695–1713. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579419000981

Mikucki-Enyart, S. L., Petitte, S. R., & Wilder, S. E. (2018). Relational uncertainty management
in adult children of divorce. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 46(4), 469–490.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2018.1500025