More than doubled?
From 2 to 4 percent is my guess. I was there. It was nothing comparable to what happens now.
ANd during that time there were no birth control pills and only illegal abortions. Girls got married.
So while the percentage doubled, the numerator was small so a doubling was miniscule.
Petigny says data show that between 1940 and 1960, rates of illegitimacy rose by more than 250 percent for white women and by more than 300 percent for all women.