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.
As a single mom, I take huge exception to your post.
And I will tell you I don't have a Bastard Child. I have a very loved, well behaved child. I work from home, so NO one else is responsible for her care, it's all on me. I don't get child support from the real bastard that is the father of my daughter. I don't get assistance from any state or federal program. What I do get is to teach her the consequences of thinking there are no consequences to sex outside of marriage. I get to teach her that even in conservative forums, there will always be assholes that don't consider how ugly they sound, nor do they care. I will teach her that even though you might sin there's always redemption from God, but there are usually consequences as well.
I will also teach her who the real bastards in life are, and it's not her.
Shame on you for your ugly post!
Ok I can handle this statistic. But what about the 50%
that I hear about across America?
Our country is in trouble when these many children are being
raised by single parents, Male or Female..
IMO, MaxMax.
Bravo!!
I gotta learn how to do the smiley's
For the record, I said "social nastiness around you." Depending on where you live is what your views are, as a song goes. Plenty of us out here grew up noticing that the average black kids were far and above more uncivilized than the average white kids. Given their family situations, that's not surprising. And now, in this particular mecca for illegal hispanics, the trend toward lawlessness is undeniable and undeniably hispanic. Facts are what they are.
And I'm not letting white kids off the hook. They were at least one full generation behind blacks in the social decay department. Now they've quietly aborted the better part of two generations and like to "yo, sup" dis and dat wicha crack hangin out yo pants, etc. But experience teaches that when neighborhoods around here trend black or hispanic, then they trend down. I seriously doubt I'm the only white guy in America who notices these things.
Sure its crazy in the hood.I know that and you can see where I live by my Zipcode on my user name.
I guess I saw very early in life through the veneer of"civilized"white kids.Particularly the ones who grew up with me in middle class towns south of San Francisco who were some of the brawlingest,thievingest,dope using,sexually immoral batch of misfits equalling ANY of the decadency of the black ghetto.
But,hey,they were WHITE and most could afford lawyers or psychiatric help for their kids when they got busted for dope or almost killed someone while drunk.Or worked out an"arrangement"with store owners when their precious little kid's burglary ring got broken up by police.
I won't even MENTION the white college kids I knew from 1968-1970 who were involved in outright treason and assaults on property and police in the name of"the Revolution".
I think I'll stay in the hood.I can at least UNDERSTAND why they are off the hook.At least way more than I can understand little Stanley or Megan's priviledged tantrums and culture of entitlement that puts a Welfare Queen to shame.
up to a third are aborted rather than brought to term.
three eights of those have no father.
half of those who do will see him leave before they are 18.
Leaving the portion conceived that reach adulthood with an intact family at about 20%. No nation can long survive such behavior.
True.
True.
You are correct,the definition cannot be changed.
Were you using the word in the sense of its definition as a noun or as an adjective?
Bad things may happen to decent people and perhaps we should be cautious about how wide a path we sweep sometimes.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source bas‧tard /ˈbæstərd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[bas-terd] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.
2. Slang. a. a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person: Some bastard slashed the tires on my car.
b. a person, esp. a man: The poor bastard broke his leg. 3. something irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual.
4. bastard culverin.
–adjective 5. illegitimate in birth.
6. spurious; not genuine; false: The architecture was bastard Gothic.
7. of abnormal or irregular shape or size; of unusual make or proportions: bastard quartz; bastard mahogany.
8. having the appearance of; resembling in some degree: a bastard Michelangelo; bastard emeralds.
9. Printing. (of a character) not of the font in which it is used or found.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Origin: 1250–1300; ME < AF bastard, ML bastardus (from 11th century), perh. < Gmc (Ingvaeonic) *bāst-, presumed var. of *bōst- marriage + OF -ard -ard, taken as signifying the offspring of a polygynous marriage to a woman of lower status, a pagan tradition not sanctioned by the church; cf. OFris bost marriage < Gmc *bandstu-, a n. deriv. of IE *bhendh- bind; the traditional explanation of OF bastard as deriv. of fils de bast “child of a packsaddle” is doubtful on chronological and geographical grounds]
but it was the intent of your post that I was commenting on - it was ugly and small minded.
You go Justche. This thread is full of self-satisfied, posturing bastards, self-made men.
Your second sentence was unnecessary and cruel. I wonder if you would have said that if you were face to face with this lovely lady and her daughter. God in His grace and mercy has made her a legitimate child of His through the sacrifice of His son. Perhaps you are in a better position to sit in judgment than He?
Sooo...they don't get married.....then don't have kids. There are ways of making that happen.....you sound educated, even though you saw dysfunction you are doing better (I'll bet) than those who did not see ANY kind of relationship between a Mom and Dad .....NO one has a perfect life.
Well said, Chanti.
excellent info, thanks.
Currently the percentage of illigitimacy for blacks runs 80%. .....
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Can I get a like for that please. Very Powerful info.
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