The Supreme Court of Mexico's decision to uphold a “fast track
divorce” law promotes the destruction of the family, various family
experts are warning.
On March 8 the Supreme Court declared the reforms carried out in
October 2008 by the Mexico City Legislative Assembly to be
constitutional.
The legislation allows one spouse to request and obtain a
divorce without the agreement of the other.
The law requires that petitioners have been married at least for one
year, that one of the spouses wishes to divorce and that his or her most
recent address be in Mexico City.
Speaking with the news service of the Archdiocese of Mexico, Patricia
Becerra, an expert on the theology of marriage, said the approval of
the norm will result in “the trivialization of marriage and an
aberration, because it violates two significant juridical principles.”
“The first is that no contract can grant one party the power to
dissolve without the consent of the other,” Becerra said.
“The second is
that no one can use one’s bad faith to his or her own benefit.”
The new
law grants a divorce even though one of the parties is willing to
forgive and fight to save the marriage, leaving the matter to the
decision of one person in a contract that is the will of two, she said.
“Before, at least the judge took pains to say to couples that the
government did not want them to divorce, but now in Mexico City that
intention has changed and it seems that the government wants families to
separate.”
Becerra argued that judges and lawyers are the ones who benefit most
from the new law, because now divorces in Mexico City will become “quick
and less burdensome.”
“There are many ways to strive for reconciliation between spouses and
achieve forgiveness before resorting to separation,” she added.
In a statement published on March 14, the news service of the
Archdiocese of Mexico City said, “Uniting together in the hope of having
a life-long union is the initial dream of every couple that decides to
marry. However, in many cases, that dream is obscured by the
difficulties of daily life, by common failings such as the lack of
communication, the inability to forgive and selfishness.”
Alberto and Marilu Villasenor, directors of Marriage Encounter in the
archdiocese, said, “In our view, the first mistake is the lack of
preparation before marriage, and that is the root of most of the
problems that lead couples to divorce.”
Other problems “include the lack of communication, not knowing how to
forgive, the lack of commitment and of love of God,” they said.
“Add to this the ease with which couples can get divorced in Mexico
City after this new ‘fast-track’ law was passed, by which that dream of
‘till death do us part’ is broken,” the couple said.