Domestic violence is still not grounds for divorce in Mississippi

There are a lot of grounds for a divorce in the state of Mississippi: impotence, adultery, bigamy, incurable mental illness, etc. But domestic violence is not on that list, and after a bill’s failure in the state Legislature, won’t be any time soon.

The Associated Press reports a bill that would have finally added domestic violence as grounds for an at fault divorce died in the Mississippi state senate.

Senate Bill 2418 initially passed the state senate, but amendments to the proposed law in the House that would’ve added two years separation as another method prevented it from making its way to the governor’s desk.

The inability to divorce over domestic violence is a pretty critical oversight. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence says that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men 1 have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner.

Workers at Mississippi domestic violence shelter House of Grace expressed frustration in interviews with local TV station WDAM over the bill’s failure.

“We were devastated,” founder Lorine Cady told WDAM. “It is shocking that you can mistreat your partner and there’s no penalties for that, that you must just continue to live in that,”

Republican state Senator Sally Doty, who sponsored the bill, said she plans to re-introduce it next session.

“I will be a bit more strong and try not to allow anything to be tagged along with it that would kill it next year,” Doty told WDAM.