New York Senate Votes To Repeal 1907 Law Which Makes Cheating In Marriage A Crime

Lawmakers in New York State have passed a bill Wednesday repealing a law set in place back in 1907 which made adultery a crime. 

For over 100 years, it's been illegal to cheat on your spouse in the Big Apple. However, the senate has agreed almost unanimously to repeal the bill which was originally punishable by up to three years. 

Bill S8774 was created for the purpose of decriminalizing penal law section 255.71 - which defines punishable adultery as "sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse."

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The Senate greenlit the motion pending New York Governor Kathy Hochul's decision to make the final call on the passing of the repeal. 

Per the Associated Press, only about a dozen people have been charged under the long-standing state law since 1972. Five have resulted in convictions. The most recent charge occurred in 2010, when a woman was allegedly caught engaging in sexual acts in a public park, but it was later dropped due to a plea deal, per the news outlet. 

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Assemblyman Charles Lavine sponsored to revoke the 1907 law, claiming it's a joke. "This law was someone's expression of moral outrage," he said in a statement obtained by AP.  "It just makes no sense whatsoever and we've come a long way since intimate relationships between consenting adults are considered immoral." 

Marriage hit a 50-year low in 2021, showing a rate of 28 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women. 

Data shows the trend reversed in the following year, showing a rate of 31.2 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women in 2022, per a study conducted by Bowling Green State University.