Every letter I read against the introduction of divorce acts like a breeze of fresh air to me. However, it seems most forget those poor sailors on the boat in the middle of a thunderstorm. I am referring to the children, who always end up the victims of divorce.

I follow Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and his Moviment Iva għad-Divorzju very closely and I can’t help but notice that unfortunately the topic of children is not given much importance. Is the movement proposing the creation of centres to help children who suffer the effects of divorce? In which way does it plan to help men and women who have to go through the psychological and financial stress of divorce? Is it aware of these problems in the first place? Does the movement have an answer to issues like the following?

If the movement says that divorce strengthens the family, how does it explain that today 40 per cent of the children in the US (where half of the marriages end in divorce) are growing up without their father? How does divorce protect the children when, following a divorce, children are 50 per cent more likely to develop health problems and 70 per cent of long-term prisoners grew up in broken homes?

Similarly, how does it explain that people from broken homes are almost twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who do not come from broken homes? And is it aware the death of a parent is less devastating to a child than divorce?

I ask these questions as I doubt whether the leading pro-divorce activists remember their childhood or if they ever felt the minimal effects of a break-up in their families.

I would also like to mention a few points with regard to the economic impact, especially on women. Divorced women with children are four times more likely to be below the poverty line than non-divorced mothers while a single mother is nine times more likely than a married woman to have an income below the poverty line.

Divorce also results in a higher cost to society as a whole. In fact, a single divorce can cost the government thousands of euros in court fees, increased bankruptcies and public housing benefits. How does the movement plan to help these women and fund divorce? Isn’t it aware that divorce will mean higher taxation?

Most people argue that divorce is something which you need not get involved in if you’re not interested. However, this is not true, as educational, social, environmental and economic impacts are felt throughout the whole of society, and if divorce ever becomes legalised, everybody will have to pay its price!

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