Fornication Laws II

Earlier I posted a map of now defunct laws banning premarital sex or cohabitation from 1996.  Today I'm offering you a look at when the 16 states who had these laws in 1996 enacted them.  We have a big range here:  from colonial times in Massachusetts (1692) to Arizona as late as 1977.

Fornication

When I asked various friends and family members to list the Ten Commandments -the alleged cornerstone of the American legal system and the biggest no-nos in Judeo-Christian theology-, I found most people could not name all ten.  Instead, many confused other behaviors viewed as sins as part of the Ten Commandments. Fornication -or premarital sex- was a common erroneous entry in the Big 10.

This next set of maps focuses on issues of sex.

Today I start with laws criminalizing premarital sex...or good ol' fornication.  These fornication statutes are distinct from adultery laws I've discussed earlier.  In 1996 sixteen states retained laws criminalizing sex outside of marriage.  In three -Arizona, New Mexico and North Dakota- premarital sex itself was not illegal but a couple living together outside of marriage was prohibited.

A number of these laws are still on the books, but they have rarely been enforced in the late 20th century. The 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision by the US Supreme Court struck down the last remaining consensual sodomy laws specifically.  The decision also firmly removed the government from the bedrooms of American citizens, and it is thought to have made fornication laws unenforceable.

The Scarlet Letter and Polling America

Majority: 

Morally Approve of:

• interracial marriage

• divorce

• sex between unmarried partners ("fornication")

• having a child out of wedlock

• same-sex marriage

Morally Disapprove of:

• adultery

• polygamy

American laws regarding sexual behaviors have changed considerably over the past half century.  Fifty years ago, American public opinion and the associated legal landscape looked very different from today:

• Divorce:  the vast majority of states allowed divorce only for "fault" -adultery, cruelty, etc.
• Adultery -an extramarital affair:  illegal 
• Fornication -sex outside marriage:  illegal
• Interracial Marriage:  illegal in most states
• Sex and Even Affectionate Intimacy Between Same-sex Partners: illegal
• Having a Child Out of Wedlock:  shamed to the point of charities operating homes for unwed mothers to "hide" from society while pregnant

As Gallup polling data from circa 2001 to 2013 shows, the majority of Americans now morally approve of:

• interracial marriage
• divorce
• sex between unmarried partners ("fornication")
• having a child out of wedlock
• same-sex marriage

Even for polygamy -being married to multiple partners at the same time- the percentage of Americans morally approving has doubled in the past 12 years.

Noticeably unchanged, however, is moral approval for extramarital sex.  Adultery polls only at 6-7% in moral approval.  Infidelity remains morally unacceptable to most Americans.  Interestingly -and I cannot find the study where I read this- moral disapproval of infidelity drops as the age of the respondent increases.  Perhaps because they have lived through their own infidelities as cheater or betrayed, the older an American becomes the more likely he or she is to be forgiving towards a marital infidelity.  The most disapproving of Americans by age are in turn the youngest respondents on polls of adults.