Republican cavemen in Iowa have decided that rape victims and pregnant women shouldn’t be the only victims of the party’s desire to turn the Wayback Machine to 1955. So they’ve decided to go after that driver of society’s ills: no-fault divorce:

A bill making it harder for couples to divorce was approved by an Iowa state House subcommittee on Monday, with a supporter of the legislation arguing it is necessary to prevent young girls from being more “promiscuous.”

The bill would make “no fault” divorces illegal in Iowa for parents of children who are minors. Now that it has been approved by the three-person subcommittee, it is ready for debate by the full state House Judiciary Committee, according to NBC 13 Des Moines.

State Rep. Tedd Gassman (R), one of the seven Republican sponsors of the bill, said that the legislation is an attempt to keep families together — something he believes is a pillar that will keep the country from falling apart.

“I sincerely believe that the family is the foundation of this nation and this nation will go the direction of our families,” said Gassman, according to Radio Iowa. “If our families break up, so will this nation.”

Of course, like all good holders of archaic beliefs, the honorable Mr. Gassman has himself a personal stake in this law:

Gassman also suggested that divorce can affect children’s behavior, specifically that it can make teenage girls more likely to engage in sexual activity than children of parents who are not divorced.

Speaking about his granddaughter, whose parents recently divorced, Gassman said, “There’s a 16-year-old girl in this whole mix now. Guess what? What are the possibilities of her being more promiscuous? What are the possibilities of all these other things surrounding her life that a 16-year-old girl, with hormones raging, can get herself into?”

It’s hard to tell whether this is just your average example of Republican projection or the stinging butt hurt of a man who tried to tell his daughter not to get divorced and was told in response to pound sand.

What sort of restrictions would be placed upon divorce under this new law?

House File 338 only applies to marriages involving children. When the divorce impacts a child, the bill says one of five things must be in place to dissolve the marriage.

They include adultery, physical or sexual abuse, and imprisonment. The bill would also allow divorce if one partner is missing for more than a year or the pair has lived apart for more than two years.

So not only would spouses subjected to abuse or cheating but unable to provide proof be locked into marriage, but children in these households would have to grow up knowing that their parents are married only because the law won’t allow them to obtain a divorce until all the kids are legally adults.