From personal observation, so this is strictly anecdotal and carries my own personal observational bias, the young who are raised in the church graduate high school and go away to college. It is very rare for even the very religious to keep up with regular sundays. They generally return to the church when they are marrying and then fade away from regular attendance until the children are born. Then they tend to get back into regular attendance.
Your two points are very valid. I think they want the trappings of a traditional blessing as a "sanction by association." As long as they don't try and pass their mistake in timing as a good thing, I don't have a problem with them trying to do the right thing PROVIDED their attitude is "go forth and sin no more."
Some of them may not understand the "why" they are seeking out the church, but some WILL get it, some will know they are trying to make right in a wrong situation. It the situation of the farmer with the seeds. (farmer scaters seeds all over the place. Some land in rocks and do not grow, some land in rocky soil and only some grow, and some land in fertile soil and grow.)
You never know who will grow and "get it", but you have to try. (or is that you have to have faith?)
T\he part about this whole thing that is interesting is reference "Unborn Children" by the NY Times. I thought they were fetuses with no human attributes. Have the hateful neo-con antichoice bigopts invaded the NYTimes as well?