a bit harsh ig.

Likely, sorry about that

Maybe a better formed argument is that getting into a marriage legally is way too easy compared to the legal process of leaving one.

This is a completely different point than your original one though. And, while somewhat true, the countries that have strong marriage protections will not save you from a separation even if there is no marriage (more on this below)

The part about being in a hospital, only applies if the partner is not conscious

Or impaired in multiple other ways… but yes, the not conscious part if key because you could be in a medically induced comma to spare you the pain and someone may need to advocate for you in case a decision needs to be made. If you just had minor issues, there would be no problem but we are fending off the worst scenarios, no need for legal protection for minor stuff

Some other counties have another method for this where if you’ve simply lived together long enough those sorts of protections exist.

Correct and those same laws are the ones that basically have you automatically declared “common law” (or whatever preferred term) which makes a separation almost as hard as a divorce (coming back to point 2 above)

Is it a valid reason for legally formalizing your marriage? That’s up to you and your partner to decide.

At the end of the day, yes of course it is for the couple to decide… I just want to make it clear that you do not normally get the same level of protection by just having a will or a power of attorney (or it would be actually worse in those cases) and that people should consider this WAY more than “I don’t need a paper to say I love someone”, that is not what legal marriage is about