Of course, rather dealing with the problems that might create a faulty marriage, such as the fact that over half of all Texans marry at an age far below the national average of 25 for women and 27 for men, the legislature doesn’t want to promote any programs or laws that could make them appear “against marriage and family.”   Instead, the current solutions propose a different approach, forcing couples to stay married, by striking the ‘no fault clause’ in divorce statutes.  Hence, rather than allowing for a quick, fault free divorce, couples will be forced to attempt a year’s reconciliation.  This seems to be the same logic the state legislature used when voting to restrict the treatment of STDs, and prescription birth control for people below the age of eighteen.  Even if a person is found to have a treatable STD by a doctor in Texas, the law prohibits the dispencing of any medical treatment without signed parental permission, or a judge’s written waiver.  Since many teens refuse to tell their parents about the issue, and many STDs remain latent with no noticeable symptoms, there have been a number of documented cases by Planned Parenthood in Houston, in which known diseases have been ignored, left untreated.  The result is that many teens living in the poorest areas in Texas will continue living with their disease, infecting others, while creating their own sterility in the years before they’ll reach the legal age of consent for treatment.

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