From Congress to churches to college campuses, people are finding reasons to save marriage. Although some marriage proponents would like to simply turn back the clock, most realize that is not possible nor would it be a good thing. No one wants marriage to be a source of economic or physical enslavement for women. And hardly anyone suggests laws revert to the days when spouses were forced to stay married to an abusive partner. One is mere economics.
Married people are better off financially than their single and divorced counterparts.
Married couples who do fall into poverty pull themselves out faster because they have more resources on which to draw. The Headleys are a classic example. She made even less as a hairdresser. When one changed jobs, the other kept the family from falling into poverty. But we also managed to create a very nice life for ourselves.