The interesting question is: How many of those unwed mothers are on welfare? Wrong incentives, again?
I think that the way that sex permeates the whole culture is a factor too.
Back in the old days, most people supported the idea that sex outside of marriage was wrong. I know that many people crossed those lines in the old days, but there was still a line to cross.
Nowadays, the whole culture sends the message that sex is okay, with any number of partners, any gender of partners, and that marriage has nothing to do with it.
Sexual expression is taken as some kind of civil right nowadays.
How people think about sex is a factor because of the way the babies are conceived.
What I wonder is, in an era of readily available birth control, why do we still see so many unplanned pregnancies? Or are many of these pregnancies planned outside marriage?
Whatever the case, I’m clealy just not “with it” anymore, as I see what’s happening in the culture.
I have not heard the term “unwed mothers” in years.
Probably that sort of language is offensive to liberals. The liberal view being, that it suggests that a mother should be married. But that is a value judgement, and we can’t have value judgements in our social policies. (sarcasm)