On Timcast IRL, Terry Schilling claims no-fault divorce will lead to our cities being “ransacked” by “criminal orphans”
Written by Sophie Lawton
Published
Head of the anti-trans organization American Principles Project Terry Schilling appeared on an episode of Timcast IRL where he compared no-fault divorce in the United States to “the dissolution of marriage and the abolition of family in the Soviet Union.”
The movement against no-fault divorce was reestablished as a right-wing project following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, with many conservative media figures attributing a supposed rejection of traditional marriages to no-fault divorce laws. Daily Wire host Michael Knowles has gone as far as claiming his wife would have to “murder” him to get out of their marriage. Right-wing streamer Steven Crowder has also repeatedly attacked no-fault divorce. And Timcast IRL host Tim Pool titled a related June 2022 video “No-Fault Divorce Has DESTROYED Men's Confidence In Marriage, Men Don't Want To Get Married Anymore.”
While on the June 26 edition of Timcast IRL, Schilling referenced a 1926 Atlantic article about “the dissolution of marriage and the abolition of family in the Soviet Union.” Schilling claimed that because divorce became an easy process and “no-fault,” Soviet cities and towns were “ransacked by these criminal orphans” and stated “this is exactly what we’re going through” in the United States.
Later in the episode, Schilling told Pool, “We’re trying to figure out how to solve this, too,” in response to Pool’s ideas for getting around no-fault divorce laws. While explaining Louisiana’s covenant marriage laws which prevent married couples from using no-fault divorce laws, Schilling claimed there needs to be a “marketing campaign” for covenant marriages and stated “you would think that like women would demand that their husband or their fiancé enters into that extra protection of marriage.”
As the right moves to establish policies rolling back marriage equality and limiting contraceptives, no-fault divorce is also in the crosshairs of conservative pundits. Media Matters senior writer John Knefel told Jezebel: “Ultimately, although it might seem outlandish now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to seem outlandish two or three years from now. If the overturning of Roe taught us anything, it’s to take conservatives at their word when they say they want to take our freedoms.”