Addressing the Riigikogu earlier this week, Vooglaid criticized the Reform Party-Eesti 200 coalition for distorting the concept of marriage in Estonia, saying respect for marriages needs to be restored.

"Perhaps we should change the law too, to allow for a non-dissolvable form of marriage for those who want it," he said, arguing it would give spouses confidence they could not be cast aside lightly for someone new.

Speaking to Delfi, Vooglaid linked falling birth rates to what he described as a post-sexual revolution shift in people's understanding of marriage, saying it has become "just another contract" that can be ended unilaterally.

He added that legalizing divorce was one of the Bolsheviks' earliest initiatives in Soviet Russia, calling it "clearly an ideological project that promised to liberate women but in reality made them far more vulnerable to exploitation."

Elaborating on the proposal, Vooglaid said no-divorce marriages would not force couples to stay together but could limit recognition of future unions and bind them to legal joint property arrangements.

"There is no way out of the demographic crisis without reversing the fundamental mistakes of the sexual revolution and rejecting them as a society," he said, calling for broader changes including family-focused tax policy and education promoting marriage and family life.

'That's not demographic policy, that's control'

In an opinion piece responding to Vooglaid, Reform MP Hanah Lahe rejected the proposal, saying his rhetoric about "protecting women" masks a familiar pattern of stripping away women's autonomy and repackaging it as "security."

"Women do not need state-imposed 'undivorceable marriages'; women need the freedom to decide who they live with, when they leave and what kind of life they want to live," she said.

Lahe argued people don't have children because they're locked into legal arrangements; they have kids when they feel secure and supported, and this means economic stability, flexible work and social support systems, and voluntary relationships built on mutual trust.

"If anyone wants to be in a lifelong marriage, by all means — that option already exists today," she added.

Lahe also said Vooglaid's framing shifts responsibility away from men, and criticized what she described as a right-wing tendency to blame the "sexual revolution" despite centuries of women fighting for basic rights.

"If someone wants to roll back women's rights, that's not demographic policy; it's a controlling ideology that imprisons women," she emphasized.

Lahe added it is unsettling to work alongside someone who views her and other women as objects rather than colleagues, and questioned why women are often left to defend their own humanity from people like Vooglaid.

"Men, speak up and defend women," she concluded.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!