Later this year, Maryland will do away with the spousal defense for rape and sexual assault, handing supporters a victory that had been long sought.

Under current Maryland law, there are four sex crimes for which a legal spouse can not be prosecuted - first and second-degree rape, and third and fourth-degree sex offense. Come October 1st, that will no longer be the case thanks to SB129/HB4. Both passed the General Assembly this year and were signed by Governor Wes Moore.

Montgomery County Senator Ariana Kelly is one of the sponsors of both bills. She started this year’s session in the House of Delegates, but was appointed to the Senate to fill the seat of Susan Lee, who joined Governor Wes Moore’s cabinet as Secretary of State. That allowed her to be a sponsor on each of the House and Senate’s bills. “So basically (this) allows people who are married to be treated the same way as people who are cohabiting or dating or are strangers in terms of sex crimes,” Kelly told WYPR.

Maryland was one of the last states in the country to have a spousal defense on the books, and supporters like Kelly had unsuccessfully sought to repeal it the past three sessions. Kelly felt this year they were successful because of some new senators like her, but also because they won the messaging battle.

“There’s an expression we use ‘poisoning the well,’” Kelly said. “I think there was a lot of rhetoric used against this bill in the past that made people believe that familiar touching within relationships might be prosecutable, which was never the case.”

The state does not have information on how many cases weren’t prosecuted because of the spousal defense.