Unfortunately once you have a generation in which many of them had moms or at least friends with moms who were unmarried and pregnant the dam is burst and it loses the shame factor. More and more people I know (much younger than me) had at least their first child before they were married. And these are not poor, minority or underprivileged. Because it is now seen as an “everyone does it” sort of thing, the stigma is gone and basically, Dan Quayle was right. Thank you Murphy Brown. And it’s all tied up with the whole permissive “it’s all about me and sex and whatever makes me happy” thing. It’s certainly not about what is the best way to raise kids and make a stable family thing.
If birth control really meant that girls didn’t have to worry about getting knocked up, this wouldn’t be the huge problem that it is. It’s another Big Lie. BC only works a certain percentage of the time, with a small but significant failure rate. And they have to use it in the first place if they want it to work. Unfortunately too many girls seem to regard getting pregnant as a way to say FU to their parents.
Not only is there no stigma, it is viewed as a status symbol. That and you get free daycare, tutoring, and applause for being “A dedicated single mom!”
My wife has students in high school with three or more kids. Think about that.