An Encouraging Downswing

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the national birthrate for unmarried women has declined. The rate for teenage pregnancies has also dipped, for the fourth year in a row, say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These declines, however slight, represent progress. No social trend has done as much harm to American children as the devastating disappearance of the two-parent family.

Single parenthood has lost any stigma in a nation where 32% of all babies are born to unwed mothers. These very personal choices are not free from larger and often troubling consequences.

Children born to single parents are more likely to grow up poor and drop out of school. Babies born to teen mothers are at greatest risk of poverty, growing up on welfare and facing other long-term problems. The teen pregnancy rate dipped in 1991 and continues to decline, the CDC says; however, the United States still has the highest rate among industrialized nations.

Reversing this trend has been difficult. Government analysts do not yet have firm data explaining what caused the 4% drop in out-of-wedlock births, although half of it may be attributed to a change in the way California now reports births. Even so, the remaining 2% decline reported for 1995 is significant, particularly when coupled with the national decline in the number of abortions.

Earlier government reports attribute progress to a decline in sexual activity among teenagers, an increased use of birth control methods and a greater reliance on condoms because of a fear of AIDS. In California, the declining rate for unmarried births is just another reason why forward-thinking leaders in Sacramento must continue the push for family planning and birth control education programs. Such programs do not constitute the whole answer, but they help.