Report: 40 Percent of Births in U.S. Occur out of Wedlock
- Updated Dec 21, 2017
A report from the Senate showed that about 40 percent of births in the United States happen out of wedlock.
The hike in non-marital births is likely a result of “moral, behavioral, and social changes” since the “Sexual Revolution overhauled the American landscape,” said Robert VerBruggen, deputy managing editor at the National Review.
The Senate report, "Love, Marriage, and the Baby Carriage: The Rise in Unwed Childbearing," was released this month. It was prepared by the vice chairman's staff of the Joint Economic Committee at the request of Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Meanwhile, the report found that “shotgun” marriages have fallen. In the early 1960s, 43 percent of unwed pregnancies led to “shotgun” marriages. Today, that number is 9 percent.
"We ridicule this norm, because we forget that it had the benefit of protecting the interests of children in having relationships with both parents," said Jennifer Roback Morse, president of the Ruth Institute.
"The most just solution for the child, is for the parents to marry each other, and work together for a lifetime for the good of the child, and their whole family. We accept injustice to children as the price we are willing to pay for adult sexual freedom and 'gender equality.’”
The report also said that falling abortion rates has contributed to the uptick in births outside of marriage.
"Further societal changes made unmarried childbearing, not just sex, more acceptable, such that half of births from nonmarital pregnancies today are intended," VerBruggen said.
Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstock/Saulich
Publication date: December 21, 2017
