A Spokane woman trying to divorce her estranged husband two years after he was jailed for beating her has been told by a judge she can't get out of the marriage while she's pregnant.
The case pits a first-year attorney who argues that state law allows any couple to divorce if neither spouse challenges it against a longtime family-law judge who says the rights of the unborn child in this type of case trump a woman's right to divorce.
"There's a lot of case law that says it is important in this state that children not be illegitimized," Spokane County Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine told The Spokesman-Review newspaper.
Further complicating things, Shawnna Hughes says her husband is not the child's father.
The judge argued that the paternity of Hughes' child needs to be determined before a divorce is finalized.
But the bottom line, says Hughes' attorney, Terri Sloyer, is that there's nothing in state law that says a woman can't get a divorce if she's pregnant.
"We don't live in 15th-century England," Sloyer said. "I am absolutely dumbfounded by it."
Me too. Details here from the AP via The Seattle Times.