The Moral Decline of America

AP: Births to Unmarried U.S. Women Set Record---

WASHINGTON - Nearly 1.5 million babies, a record, were born to unmarried women in the United States last year, the government reported Friday. And it isn't just teenagers any more.
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But last year teens accounted for just 24 percent of unwed births, down from 50 percent in 1970, she commented.

The increases in unmarried births have been among women in their 20s, she said, particularly those 25 to 29.

Many of the women in that age group are living with partners but still count as unmarried mothers if they haven't formally married, Ventura noted.

The 20s are the prime childbearing years, regardless of whether the mother is married or not, she said.

Among teens, more than 80 percent of mothers were unmarried.

There were 1,470,152 babies born to single women in 2004, 35.7 percent of all births in the country, NCHS said. That was up from 1,415,995 a year earlier.

This is just another example of the moral decay in our country. It used to be that the only women who had children outside of wedlock were either widows, whose husbands died before the babies were born, or, as they would call them in the Regency, "courtesans, cyprians, and soiled doves" (see here.).

Those poor children will grow up without a mom and dad who made a commitment before a child came into the picture. They will, many of them, grow up without fathers. What a nice life.

I believe that people shouldn't have children without being married first. Behavior contrary to my Catholic faith, such as sleeping with someone before marriage or having a child without marriage, I consider immoral and detrimental to everyone, not just the people directly involved.

It makes me very sad to see that this behavior has become the norm and is no longer stigmatized. Now, mistakes happen, but not on this grand of a scale. People need to turn back to morality and God.