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Births to unmarried
women
——————————— Birth
Rate Ratio of rate
(per nonmarital for
Year 1,000 births to married
Number unwed all births women
women (aged
aged 15- 15-44)
44)

1998......................... 1,292,534 NA 32.8 NA
1997......................... 1,257,444 44.0 32.4 84.3
1996......................... 1,260,306 44.8 32.4 83.7
1995......................... 1,253,976 45.1 32.2 83.7
1994......................... 1,289,592 46.9 32.6 83.8
1993......................... 1,240,172 45.3 31.0 86.8
1992......................... 1,224,876 45.2 30.1 89.0
1991......................... 1,213,769 45.2 29.5 89.9
1990......................... 1,165,384 43.8 28.0 93.2
1989......................... 1,094,169 41.6 27.1 91.9
1988......................... 1,005,299 38.5 25.7 90.8
1987......................... 933,013 36.0 24.5 90.0
1986......................... 878,477 34.2 23.4 90.7
1985......................... 828,174 32.8 22.0 93.3
1980......................... 665,747 29.4 18.4 97.0
1970......................... 398,700 26.4 10.7 121.1
1960......................... 224,300 21.6 5.3 156.6
1950......................... 141,600 14.1 3.9 141.0
Illegitimate birth rate in America 1950 3.9 % vs 1998 32.8%.
It wasn’t the water that changed us.

And this has what to do with Satan and Ouija boards? Are all of these women using Ouija boards to get pregnant out of wedlock? Statistics and statisticians can be very much like soothsayers; they gaze into the crystal ball and tell you what they think they see or what they want to see.

As far as the water goes, the “statistics”, taking into account all of the unreported and under-reported unwed births were likely not much different in 1950 than today. The difference is back then the reporting and collection of this data was pretty patchy and attitudes and mores of the time meant that many of these births were quietly handled by private institutions and agencies with little or no actual reporting. The young ladies were quickly sent to live with a distant “aunt” or went on an extended vacation.