Posted on 11/21/2006 1:23:56 PM PST by BenLurkin
ATLANTA - Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday.
While out-of-wedlock births have long been associated with teen mothers, the teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record. Instead, births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s.
The overall rise reflects the burgeoning number of people who are putting off marriage or living together without getting married.
The increase in births to unwed mothers was seen in all racial groups, but rose most sharply among Hispanics. It was up among all age groups except youngsters ages 10 to 17.
"A lot of people think of teenagers and unmarried mothers synonymously, but they are not driving this," said Stephanie Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics, a co-author of the report.
The government also reported that the rate of births by Caesarean delivery continued to climb in 2005 to a record high, despite efforts by public health authorities to bring down the number.
Many experts believe a large number of C-sections are medically unnecessary and done only for the convenience of the mother or her doctor.
The government report includes information from 99 percent of U.S. birth certificates filed last year. The information for 2005 is considered preliminary, but officials said it is not expected to change much.
About 4.1 million babies were born in the United States last year, up slightly from 2004. More than 1.5 million of those were to unmarried women; that is about 37 percent of the total. In 2004, about 36 percent of births were out of wedlock.
Out-of-wedlock births have been rising since the late 1990s.
But just because a mother is not married does not mean the father isn't around, Ventura noted. She noted 2002 statistics that showed that about 20 percent of all new mothers under 20 were unmarried but living with the father at the time of the birth. That same was true of about 13 percent of all new mothers ages 20 to 24.
According to census figures, the median age at first marriage was 27 for men and 25 for women last year, up from 23 and 20 in 1950. Meanwhile, the number of unmarried-couple households with children has been climbing, hitting more than 1.7 million last year, up from under 200,000 in 1970.
Other findings in the report:
The birth rate among teenagers declined 2 percent in 2005, continuing a trend from the early 1990s. The rate is now about 40 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19. That is the lowest level in the 65 years for which a consistent series of rates is available.
The U.S. teen birth rate is still the highest among industrialized countries.
Births to women in their early 20s rose slightly, to 102 births per 1,000 women ages 20 to 24. Births to women in their late 20s — the most productive group in terms of childbirth — was about that same from the previous year, at about 116 per 1,000 women ages 25 to 29.
The C-section rate rose to 30.2 percent of all births in 2005, an increase of 1 percentage point from the previous year. The rate has risen by nearly half since 1996.
"It is clear that the procedure is being overused," Tonya Jamois, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network, said in a statement. ICAN is a California-based nonprofit organization focused on lowering C-section rates.
You're panicking. Many of the cities are thriving. Many people lead international lives that take them from one city to another around the globe. For those with the proper skill sets, the options are nearly unlimited.
It is not up to the government to ensure that people have "better" lives, or to define what qualifies as "better". Objectively speaking, people have better lives (at least longer and physically healthier) if they never smoke, never overeat, exercise regularly, and get a minimum of 8 hours sleep every night. Throw in never drink alcohol or use mindaltering recreational drugs, and you'd eliminate about 90% of unwanted pregnancies, in addition to the health benefits to the non-using adult. However, it is not the proper role of government to dole out privileges and penalties to citizens based on their degree of compliance with those ingredients of the recipe for "better" living.
Would that explain the uptick in crime rates?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1742804/posts?page=21
Eighteen Cities, Areas Picked for Crime Study WASHINGTON -- The government selected 18 cities and sprawling suburban regions Wednesday to study for clues on why homicides and other violent crimes are on the rise nationally.
The Justice Department study comes after FBI data in September showed violent criminal activity -- including rape, murder, robbery and aggravated assault -- rising by 2.2 percent from last year. That marked the first increase in violent crimes since 2001.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced the study at a Boston meeting last month with police chiefs and other law enforcement officials. It will be rolled out in three phases: looking at crime increases in cities, analyzing those results for any trends, and identifying federal programs that can help. It was not clear whether more federal funding will be available for cities, but Justice Department officials said that "new initiatives" could be created, if necessary.
The cities and regions are: Atlanta; Boston; metropolitan Charlotte, N.C.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Columbus, Ohio; Hartford, Conn.; Houston; Jersey City, N.J.; metropolitan Kansas City, Mo.; Miami; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Nashville, Tenn.; Oklahoma City; Omaha, Neb.; Portland, Ore.; San Bernardino County, Calif.; San Diego; and the cities constituting the Tidewater, Va., area.
Well, like a lot of things under the MSM radar, it needs to be discussed and brought into the open - with or without the help of cultural gatekeepers. That is when things begin to change because of popular perceptions/support. You might have noticed Bill Cosby trying to do just this and being ignored or excoriated. One clear item that could stand a good airing is the use of race whores to shill for the leftist plantation. Without open and free dialogue on issues that make people uncomfortable, we're going to get nowhere in addressing the problems. As far as I am concerned, racism is minor issue in this day and age - well, except for the PC police and their toadies.
Q: What is to be gained by ignoring the actual nature of these problems or concealing the demographics?
A: Read this book: http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=The+Dream+and+the+Nightmare,+Myron+Magnet&hl=en&lr=&checkout=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=checkout-restrict
We are seeing the disintegration of our Republic subsidized with our Dollars. The FemNags and their Big Government pals are sure to give amnesty to all of these illegals. Further eroding our Sovereignty and our Laws already under assult. Mexico doesn't tolerate this crap in their Country. Why should we?
Would that explain the uptick in crime rates?
A lack of jobs for the unskilled or semi-skilled. In any event, there are other indicators of thriving cities than crime rates.
******Also consider however that many boys stay boys instead of desiring to be men. Too many see nothing wrong with living in mom and dad's basement playing video games at 25 years old. Would any decent woman be attracted to that? There is a general delaying of adulthood that seems to get worse with each generation*******
Many women aren't done partying with ex-cons and meth cooks until around age 30 when they start looking for a stable nice guy to buy them a house. Those guys playing video games would do well to keep on playing and saving for an early retirement so when they are 45 they can move to a man-friendly country and marry.
"... there will always be assholes..." I will teach her that even though you might sin there's always redemption from God...." Shame on you for your ugly post!
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Ummm, are you claiming to know God? Doesn't sound like it from your post.
are you denying there are assholes?
And that's so sad, because it's the children who suffer for it.
Of course, the "immigration is everything crowd seeks to link EVER FRIGGIN' ISSUE to illegal immigration.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan published a controversial journal article on this subject 40 years ago, LONG before illegal immigration became such an obsessive issue.
2. Most of the crime is concentrated in a few areas in the OUTER boroughs, not in the thriving areas.
Happy New Year, from Princeton.
Happy New Year from the Big Apple.
Central New Jersey. I live in a lovely town between Princeton and Trenton (where said illegitimate foundlings exist in droves).
Pelosi's fault.
Actually, I agree with that. If these people are here illegally, then a child born here to someone who is illegal should not be considered a citizen. It would stop a lot of it.
Of course, if the people are here legally have a kid, that would make them a citizen.
Let me ask a few rhetorical questions.
Once the rate of illegitimacy has so tipped (hmmm, not "tipped", but TOPPLED) so far to one side, how does one propose to _ever_ "restore the norms" in black communities?
With a rap (add a "c" to the front of that and you have my musical assessment) culture that glories ho's, guns, brutality, and outright murder - not to mention a culture that considers any attempt to live like the white majority as "acting white", what ARE "the norms of black communities" these days?
Indeed, we have a black culture in which being born illegitmately _IS_ "the norm" now. It is traditional marriage which seems outmoded and out-of-place there.
Is there anyone reading this posting that honestly expects that to change back to something resembling conservative norms? (For the record, I do not.)
If there is, just how do you realistically propose to do that?
- John
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