JERUSALEM (RNS) - The Israeli parliament Dec. 1 shot down a bill that would have enabled Jewish women to get a divorce if their husbands cannot or will not agree to ending the marriage.

Several thousand Jewish women around the world are believed to be "chained" to their husbands. A minority of these women, called "agunot," are married to men who disappeared during a war, terror attack, or natural disaster. The remainder are married to men who simply refuse to grant them a divorce.

Many husbands try to extort exhorbitant amounts of money from their wives or demand full custody of their children in return for a "get," a Jewish divorce contract.

Without this document, Jewish women are unable to remarry or bear children outside their marriage, according to Jewish law.

Israel has no civil marriage or divorce, so all Jewish couples seeking a divorce must do so through the Orthodox-run rabbinical courts.

The bill was defeated by 48-24, largely because the two ultra-Orthodox political parties in the Knesset said it did not adhere to Jewish law.