While writing an article for the upcoming issue of MWL's With Equal Right publication, Hennepin County Judge Ann Alton (a source) mentioned that Minnesota's adultery statute still limited the crime to when a married woman has intercourse outside of marriage.
Although not relevant to my article, I was intrigued. After an in-depth google search, I discovered it was true. Minnesota Statute section 609.36 reads as follows:
Subd. 1: Acts constituting
When a married woman has sexual intercourse with a man other than her husband, whether married or not, both are guilty of adultery and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.
No prosecution shall be commenced under this section except on complaint of the husband or the wife, except when such husband or wife is insane, nor after one year from the commission of the offense.
It is a defense to violation of this section if the marital status of the woman was not known to the defendant at the time of the act of adultery.
Finding the ramifications of such a statute is my next priority--I'm not sure how many cases are brought under this section, or whether women have been imprisoned or fined in the past decades. But for such a distinction drawn on gender lines to still exist within the law appears to make little sense.
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