Posted on 11/21/2006 1:23:56 PM PST by BenLurkin
ATLANTA - Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday.
While out-of-wedlock births have long been associated with teen mothers, the teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record. Instead, births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s.
The overall rise reflects the burgeoning number of people who are putting off marriage or living together without getting married.
The increase in births to unwed mothers was seen in all racial groups, but rose most sharply among Hispanics. It was up among all age groups except youngsters ages 10 to 17.
"A lot of people think of teenagers and unmarried mothers synonymously, but they are not driving this," said Stephanie Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics, a co-author of the report.
The government also reported that the rate of births by Caesarean delivery continued to climb in 2005 to a record high, despite efforts by public health authorities to bring down the number.
Many experts believe a large number of C-sections are medically unnecessary and done only for the convenience of the mother or her doctor.
The government report includes information from 99 percent of U.S. birth certificates filed last year. The information for 2005 is considered preliminary, but officials said it is not expected to change much.
About 4.1 million babies were born in the United States last year, up slightly from 2004. More than 1.5 million of those were to unmarried women; that is about 37 percent of the total. In 2004, about 36 percent of births were out of wedlock.
Out-of-wedlock births have been rising since the late 1990s.
But just because a mother is not married does not mean the father isn't around, Ventura noted. She noted 2002 statistics that showed that about 20 percent of all new mothers under 20 were unmarried but living with the father at the time of the birth. That same was true of about 13 percent of all new mothers ages 20 to 24.
According to census figures, the median age at first marriage was 27 for men and 25 for women last year, up from 23 and 20 in 1950. Meanwhile, the number of unmarried-couple households with children has been climbing, hitting more than 1.7 million last year, up from under 200,000 in 1970.
Other findings in the report:
The birth rate among teenagers declined 2 percent in 2005, continuing a trend from the early 1990s. The rate is now about 40 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19. That is the lowest level in the 65 years for which a consistent series of rates is available.
The U.S. teen birth rate is still the highest among industrialized countries.
Births to women in their early 20s rose slightly, to 102 births per 1,000 women ages 20 to 24. Births to women in their late 20s — the most productive group in terms of childbirth — was about that same from the previous year, at about 116 per 1,000 women ages 25 to 29.
The C-section rate rose to 30.2 percent of all births in 2005, an increase of 1 percentage point from the previous year. The rate has risen by nearly half since 1996.
"It is clear that the procedure is being overused," Tonya Jamois, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network, said in a statement. ICAN is a California-based nonprofit organization focused on lowering C-section rates.
We have a "Bastard Boom".
"The increase in births to unwed mothers was seen in all racial groups, but rose most sharply among Hispanics"
Can't wait until GWB signs in another 20 million....LOL.
Can you say "Welfare mama"?
LOL
LBJ's war on poverty was really war on marriage. Since the liberalization of welfare and widespread public acceptance of public support for single mothers the out of wedlock rate has skyrocketed along with crime and other social dysfunctions.
Boy the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days.
And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and men were men,
Mister we could use a man
Like Herbert Hoover again.
Didn't need no welfare state,
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.
An increasing percentage of women want to live the "Sex and the City" life. They want to be urban slicksters with no traditions. The Madonna-eqsue / Hollywierd out of wedlock love child is considered cool these days.
I'm surrounded by Bastards!
Ah....you're just mad about not getting in the'free love' of those days...........However, you're DEAD RIGHT bout the consequences.........we're all paying for it now!;^)
Those were the days.
So only 80-87% had no father around, and we're supposed to be reassured.
"just because a mother is not married does not mean the father isn't around," Ventura noted.
LOL, at least he was around one night.
Pull the plug.
Claim: A recent patient survey indicated that 70% of the women who gave birth at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas in the first three months of 2006 were illegal immigrants.
Status: True.
And on the 1st and the 15th.
I realize this will make things a bit less convenient for citizens too...but why can't we pass a law stating that to be treated in a hospital you MUST have proof of residency?
I hope they don't break it down by race, because that would be racist.
And prolly another 37 percent are born to "parents" who hurry up and get married, once they learn "they're" pregnant.
Unfortunately, the majority of people don't see anything wrong with this at all. Most young people are being raised to think this is perfectly normal, like abortion.
I feel sorry for the kids.
Some hospitals in the southwest have been driven out of business as a result ofunpaid bills.
People, pick up
on what I'm puttin' down now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
Down at every
Laundromat in town now
Welfare mothers
make better lovers
LOL!
Because we're civilized?
I understand the costs involved -- but to deny treatment to anybody who cannot instantly produce the requisite proof of citizenship is not the answer.
I'm just glad that some babies have moms that didn't buy into the abortion fallacy.
I realize that.
I do think ending automatic citizenship for babies (anchor babies) could be a solution.
I guarantee if they rid us of these curses our morality in the U.S. would turn 180 degrees. Abstinence until marriage would once again be the rule instead of uncustomary.
I work for a land developer in a resort town. He owns some rental units that college kids rent during the summer. I am constantly amazed at the silly parents who come in and help Jr and his shack up babe fill out their rental forms. They are almost giddy, as if this is the most wonderful thing their child could be doing with his or her summer. It makes me sick to see the lack of guidance that is being given to these young people.
These are more true today than when Indiana's own Cole Porter (by way of Yale) wrote them more than 75 years ago:
Anything Goes Lyrics
[RENO]
Times have changed,
And we've often rewound the clock,
Since the Puritans got a shock,
When they landed on Plymouth Rock.
If today,
Any shock they should try to stem,
'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock,
Plymouth Rock would land on them.
In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking,
But now, God knows,
Anything Goes.
Good authors too who once knew better words,
Now only use four letter words
Writing prose, Anything Goes.
The world has gone mad today
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today,
When most guys today
That women prize today
Are just silly gigolos
And though I'm not a great romancer
I know that I'm bound to answer
When you propose,
Anything goes
When grandmama whose age is eighty
In night clubs is getting matey with gigolo's,
Anything Goes.
When mothers pack and leave poor father
Because they decide they'd rather be tennis pros,
Anything Goes.
If driving fast cars you like,
If low bars you like,
If old hymns you like,
If bare limbs you like,
If Mae West you like
Or me undressed you like,
Why, nobody will oppose!
When every night,
The set that's smart
Is intruding in nudist parties in studios,
Anything Goes.
[RENO, PASSENGERS & CREW]
The world has gone mad today
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today,
When most guys today
That women prize today
Are just silly gigolos
And though I'm not a great romancer
I know that I'm bound to answer
When you propose,
Anything goes
[RENO]
If saying your prayers you like,
If green pears you like
If old chairs you like,
If back stairs you like,
If love affairs you like
With young bears you like,
Why nobody will oppose!
[ALL]
And though I'm not a great romancer
And though I'm not a great romancer
I know that I'm bound to answer
When you propose,
Anything goes...
Anything goes!
Actually this is where blacks were in the 1960's and 70's. We all know how sell that turned out for them and black family life. Currently the percentage of illigitimacy for blacks runs 80%. ......
I wonder if white families will be there in another 30 years.
Right. This is good news like being told you have lung cancer is better then having pancreatic cancer....
Don't bet against it....
Also consider however that many boys stay boys instead of desiring to be men. Too many see nothing wrong with living in mom and dad's basement playing video games at 25 years old. Would any decent woman be attracted to that? There is a general delaying of adulthood that seems to get worse with each generation.
He jus' be out clubbin'...
Geez, I wonder why we have these income disparities the Dims are talking about and claim they will be addressing as part of their 100 day agenda??
Thirty-seven per cent?! OMG! A sound and healthy society cannot support that statistic. But a society that lives by Hollywood standards can... as long as it never has to face up to hardship and difficult times, and as long as it never has to truly fend for itself in a very tough world.
I believe that would be "Welfare Senoritas!
This is the subsidization of Vicious Bastards. These are disasters for society.
"Yes, that would be racist.
Also pointless and irrelevant."
Pointless and irrelevant is in the eye of the beholder. But, if you think that it would be racist, perhaps you need a dictionary for Christmas. It's not even remotely racist to publish accurate statistics about anything.
Surely you are not so deluded as to believe society is going to accept hospitals allowing people to die in their parking lots or lobbies.
Given the fact that women make up over half the population THAT ain't going to happen.
"I do think ending automatic citizenship for babies (anchor babies) could be a solution."
NOW there is zero chance of any such solution since the GOP is being "punished". Funny how it looks as though rationality is being punished.
Those who like to see the stats broken down by race do so because they get a perverse kick out of showing that blacks and Mexicans have higher rates of unwed mothers.
Then they can infer without saying so that white females are somehow more virtuous than those"other women because they are more "responsible and moral" which is nonsense to anyone who has spent any time with the current crop of women of ANY ethnicity whose morals are dictated by MTV and the whole Sex and the City ethic.
Typical and planned. The father works. The mother gets welfare. This way they can afford the custom paint job on their low rider car and all the tequila dad wants, while Taxpayers pick up the bill for rent and food and medical on his family.
It's called "Welfare Scam".
Yes, elitist/progressive Norman Lear used the lyrics of that song as a sneer against traditional values.
By the end of it's run, when the American public was beginning to see the damage caused by liberal idiocy, I believe more people were laughing WITH All in the Family's Archie Bunker, than AT him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.