Why is this happening when birth control is widely available and as we know often free of charge - likewise abortions?
There is little financial disincentive - and in fact there are incentives built in - thanks to our tax and welfare systems.
Many demographic subcultures no longer look negatively on this type of thing. In fact, the unwed mother is celebrated and romanticized.
I know many women in their late 30s and early 40s who want children but have no man in their life, so they go it alone. In most of these cases they can afford it without government handouts.
Men are increasingly shunning marriage. They increasingly see it as too risky financially with little upside. This is in large government’s fault as the divorce industry still disproportionately favors women.
It is sad, but get used to it because it will be more 50% within a few years.
You’re being far too logical. Don’t you know that, somehow or another, it’s all mens’ fault? Always is.
The headline states that birth rates dropped and mentions the percentage of births to unmarried women -- but it doesn't say that birth rates are going up for unmarried women. The way it is laid out does sort of imply that though. (They also made a few mistakes when copying the numbers over, i.e. the overall birth rate is per 100,000 but the breakdown by age is per 1,000.)
Anyway, if anyone would like to check out the original CDC report, it shows that the birth rate is not only down overall, but down for unmarried women as well. (From 1,631,749 in 2010 to 1,609,112 in 2011...or 22,637.)
On a side note, page 19 of the report breaks it down by race. Birth rates for unmarried, non-hispanic blacks have dropped from 427,611 to 421,566 - a decline of over 6,000.
Birth control, abortion, economics, education or some combination thereof does seem to be impacting the numbers for every group except Native Americans and Asians/Pacific Islanders.