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New
Report From Heartland Center by Fr. Tom Gannon, SJ, Considers Abortions
Between 1974 and 1997, almost 35 million abortions were performed in the United States—that is 390 abortions for every 1,000 live births. At the same time, abortions have recently been declining, from a high point of 1.6 million in 1990 to more than 1.3 million in 1997, lowering the ratio to 342 abortions for every 1,000 live births. Even Planned Parenthood does not believe that clamoring pickets and restrictive regulations has had much to do with the drop. One reason is that contraception use is up, even if only modestly, encouraged by fears of AIDS and other venereal risks. Also, with an aging population, there are fewer teenagers and young women to have unwanted pregnancies; teenagers’ share of all abortions has dropped dramatically. The chief cause for drop in the abortion rate is an increasing choice by unmarried girls and women to complete their pregnancies and take their babies home. This has lifted nonmarital births to an all-time high. Among women who are now raising children on their own, 43.3 percent have never been married, in contrast to 6.8 percent a generation ago. As for the fathers, fewer feel pressured or obliged, let alone inclined, to wed the women they made pregnant. Brides with a baby on the way are less frequent. One American child in three is now born to unmarried parents. In 1960, the figure was one in 20. For white births, the out-of-wedlock ratio is 22.1 percent, and each year it moves closer to the black rate, which is now 69.1 percent. This makes the black figure 3.1 times that for whites. The 1970 ratio was 6.6, or over twice as great. Also, in 1970, half of all nonmarital births were to teenagers. By 1999, the most recent year for figures, they had declined to 29.3 percent of the total. So more unwed births are to older women. Over half of unwed mothers have had another pregnancy earlier, and for a quarter, it is at least their third child. In the early 1970s, half of premarital pregnancies led to marriage. By the 1990s, fewer than a quarter did. Before 1973, the year of Row v. Wade, one-fifth of “nonmarital” infants were adopted. Currently, only one in 30 is. In the 1950s, fully 82.8 percent of first children were conceived after marriage. By the 1990s, that proportion was down to 47.2 percent. Another reason the nonmarital ratio is higher is there are fewer births overall within marriage. Couples who used to have three children now stop at two, while others are having one or none. Should
these trends be a cause of concern? The US Congress certainly thinks
so. In 1996, it created a competition among the states, offering
annual rewards of up to $20 million for states showing the greatest
reductions in out-of-wedlock birth rates (with a proviso that they
could not be attained by abortions). In 2000, Arizona was one of
four win Why try to curtail the birth of “nonmarital” children? To my knowledge, no studies have shown that people whose parents were not married, as a group, cost society more than they contribute. True, these children tend to start out poorer, which often means they do not do as well in school and are more likely to get in trouble with the law. And the odds are high that they will have nonmarital children themselves. But the vast majority also get jobs, pay taxes, and do their best to better themselves. Whether they lead less satisfying lives is not easily measured. However, all things considered, two parents are preferable to one. They may or may not provide a better setting in which to grow up. But if nothing else, two parents might mean two incomes, or if one, it will generally be the male’s. The most recent census figures show the median income for all married couples with children is $60,168. It is $45,315 when only the father works, but rises to $72,773 when both parents are employed full-time. In contrast, the median for women raising children on their own is $19,934, and for those who have never married it is a poverty-level $13,048. The mean for solo fathers is $32,427. So children in two-parent homes are more likely to have more toys, computers, and live in districts with superior schools. Given the burdens of childrearing today, having two sets of hands helps. There is evidence that boys who grow up without a resident father make less of their lives. This also can apply to the effects of divorce. If parents aren’t marrying at the rates they once did, those who do are breaking up or switching partners, despite the consequences for their children. The median income for divorced mothers is $24,363, including child support as they receive. This means the children must live within a budget less than half of that enjoyed by those whose parents remain married. Reasons for the rise in nonmarital sex are not hard to find. A society stimulated by erotic soap operas and torrid advertising impels people into bed at younger ages and with fewer formalities. Women and men now have longer spans before marriage during which they are unlikely to remain chaste. The high incidence of divorce means there will be more post-marital sex. If conditions like these account for increased sexual activity, they don’t tell us why the United States leads the advanced world in pregnancies among the young, or why so many single American women are choosing to bear their babies and raise them. Indeed, in a recent National Center for Health Statistics study, almost half of the married mothers reported that their pregnancies were planned. There is less stigma to being an unmarried mother than there used to be. “Illegitimacy” is a word hardly heard today, and “bastardy” not at all. Even “out-of-wedlock” is being replaced by “nonmarital,” as if to suggest that having children within or outside marriage is an equally acceptable option. Single women who welcome their pregnancies range from teenagers who look forward to bearing babies, to actors and executives who decide they want to have a child. These choices are also statements. One message is that women can sustain a family without a male presence. Another is that there is a shortage of reliable men, a sentiment that–intended or not–may be passed on to their daughters. Reliability aside, there is no evidence of a paucity of “marriageable”men, except among African Americans. Although imprisonment, addiction, and early mortality are factors here, the best index for this shortage is employment, where black women make up 52.1 percent of those working full time. With white women, the figure is 41.6 percent, and is similar for other ethnic groups. All told, the great majority of men should still be considered “marriageable,” if what is wanted is a steady job or the prospect of securing one. Now, of course, a great deal more is expected, apart from the man not being violent or alcoholic or mentally unbalanced. Today, women who are contemplating marriage set higher standards for possible husbands than their mothers and grandmothers did. This may explain, at least in part, why twice as many women are now reaching their forties without marrying. That is twice the figure for a generation ago, while most heterosexual men marry by the end of their thirties. Most girls and young women are not delaying marriage to have premarital babies. In fact, as a group, they are generally having more educational and professional success than ever. Studies by the College Board and the National Center for Education Statistics show that girls have better grades than boys, largely because they are more likely to do their homework, and there are more of them in advanced placement courses. Girls also spend less time watching television and read more books on their own. Even more strikingly, women are now estimated to make up 56.8 percent of all students who earn bachelors’ degrees, which means that 131 women graduate for every 100 men. Many of the issues raised here deserve to be more widely published. They also need more serious attention. The recent decline in elective abortions is good news for those of us who promote a “Gospel of life.” Although the general decline in births has attracted the notice of media commentators, most seem unconcerned that native-born Americans are not reproducing themselves. Moreover, the replacement ratio would drop even further if nonmarital births could be reduced. In view of the prospect of a graying population, we will need more children, if not our own, then those of immigrants. The statistics reviewed above suggest that many adults are setting their young lives in motion without much thought of being dependable parents. Only 60.4 percent of the nation’s youngsters are living with the two people who created them. Even now, about half of all children are predicted to spend some time in a single-parent family. Once the figure moves a point or two higher, single parenthood could be our new norm.
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