A 40% Fatherless Nation?

Townhall.com ^ | February 16, 2022 | Terry Jeffrey

[Kaslin]

In 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II, there were 2,515,427 babies born in this country. Of those babies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95,700 -- or 3.8% -- were born to unmarried mothers.

The traditional family led by a mother and father was a foundational fact of American culture.

In 1945, the percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers rose to 4.3%. But, by 1946, the first full year after the war, it dropped back down to 3.8%.

The traditional family survived.

Then in the 1950s, the percentage of American babies born to unmarried mothers began to slowly tick upward, hitting 5.2% by the end of that decade.

By 1969, as this column has noted in reviewing these numbers before, 10% of American babies were born to unmarried mothers. In 2008, it surpassed 40%.

In 10 of the last 13 years on record (2008 through 2020), it has surpassed 40% -- and in the three years that it did not surpass 40%, it never dropped below 39.6%.

In fact, in the 13 years from 2008 through 2020, there were 51,138,204 babies born in this country, according to the CDC, and 20,642,649 of those babies (or 40.36%) were born to unmarried mothers.

This country is not headed in the right direction. A generation will soon be coming of age in which a large percentage of the population will have been denied a traditional family life.

What happens when families fall apart or fail to form in the first place? Government, as this column has noted before, gets bigger and takes more control over people's lives.

In 1941, Medicaid, which is a form of welfare, did not exist. "Authorized by Title XIX of the Social Security Act, Medicaid was signed into law in 1965 alongside Medicare," says the program's official website. "All states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories have Medicaid programs designed to provide health coverage for low-income people. Although the Federal government establishes certain parameters for all states to follow, each state administers their Medicaid program differently, resulting in variations in Medicaid coverage across the country."

By July 2021, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, there were 76,705,180 people enrolled in Medicaid. Last fiscal year, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement, the federal government spent $520.58 billion on that program.

When Medicaid was created in 1965, 7.7% of American babies were born to unmarried mothers.

By 2020, according to the CDC's latest birth report, the percentage of American babies born to unmarried mothers had risen to 40.5%.

The percentage born on Medicaid, according to the CDC report, was 42%.

As this column has also noted before, Census Bureau data shows that the traditional family and economic well-being are interconnected. In 2020, according to the bureau, only 4.7% of married couple families in this country lived below the poverty level. But at the same time, 38.1% of female householders with children under 18 and no spouse present lived in poverty, as did 46.2% of female householders with no spouse present and children under 6.

If America continues on a long-term trend in which 40% or more of the babies born each year are born to unmarried mothers and even more than that are born on Medicaid, it is hard to see how this country will prosper.

This nation was built by pioneers who sailed across broad oceans and ventured onto vast prairies, seeking to live their lives self-sufficient and free. They did not want to be dependent on government. They wanted to be independent.

We should teach our children and our grandchildren to emulate those pioneers who gave us this great country.

[9YearLurker]

This is a mess largely created by our government policies.

Now, several generations in, it is hard to reverse.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Which breeds sloth, dysfunction, apathy, and envy.

[Organic Panic]

Welfare is a career choice. Having lived on the islands of Hawaii, single motherhood is a profitable life choice.

[caww]

I think it’s the “Me First” generations. Believing they have a right to be happy 24/7. Anything less they divorce and move on to the next relationship married and not.

I also think people “try on” marriage like a new outfit they might buy in a retail store. It might fit well at first...then begin to wear out and or the parties size increases until it doesn’t fit any longer.

There is nothing this generation commit to except their own happiness and pleasure.

[nathanbedford]

The open gash in American fabric caused by immorality and free money.

In an age, unlike December 1941, when both birth control and abortion are universally available why do we have such a shocking increase in bastardy rates? Somehow, I do not believe the mothers and fathers of 1941 had a more diminished sex drive than do the mothers of today.

There is a reason why illegitimacy increases when technology provides the means by which it so easily could be averted.

I agree with your analysis of the cause but I would peel back one more layer of the onion, there is a void in our soul.

[bantam]

Pathetic, and sad!!
So many kids being ripped off of what normal is!!!

[jmacusa]

Interestingly when the Selective Service Act was introduced in 1940 Army doctors and psychologists found that 40% of inductees couldn’t read or write.

[jmacusa]

Dad might be in charge but mom knows what’s going on.

[Reily]

In WWI the Army processed in an enormous number of draftees. They initiated IQ - Stanford-Benet, called Alpha & Beta tests by the Army. I think this was the first time such testing was done on a wide spread basis. (Don't know about the Navy, I assume they did something similar!) They discovered that a very very large number of inductees were by classification of the test “idiots”.

I have always been somewhat suspicious of the whole IQ theory. I don't think its as immutable as is claimed. There certainly are boundaries. I just don't think its as “cut & dried” as is believed. It's just my opinion, based more on the desire for “human equality” then facts.

[PeteyBoy]

Dan Quale was right.

[Persevero]

There are Bible believing churches that uphold biblical family roles, biblical marriage, etc.

[Elsie]

62,000,000 silenced voices agree with you.

[Elsie]

Since 1970, out-of-wedlock birth rates have soared.

What should we expect?

We subsidize the hell out of them!

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List of Grants for Single Mothers #

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1. Federal Pell Grant
2. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
3. Federal Work-Study Grant
4. Federal Student Loan
5. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
6. Diversion Cash Assistance (DCA)
7. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
8. Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC)
9. Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
10. Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program (CCAMPIS)
11. Head Start / Early Head Start
12. Medicaid
13. Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

14. Section 8 Rental Subsidy
15. Public Housing Program
16. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
17. Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)
18. Supplemental Security Income
19. Title X: The National Family Planning Program
20. National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
21. The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
22. Local Food Banks
23. Lifeline Program
24. Unemployment Insurance
25. Paid Family Leave
26. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
27. Grants for American Indians and Alaska Natives

[miserare]

The father is the head,

The mother is the heart.

[light-bulb]

Two is how it was designed. We both(men/women) play pivotal, and key roles.

We are in so much trouble right now as a country. Our morals, our narcissistic culture, our jealousy, our discontent, our desire to seek happiness in every moment, our fear of speaking goodness.

I wish I could flip a switch and go back in time.

God bless

[TwelveOfTwenty]

None of these programs forced men to shoot their sperm all over the landscape.

[Elsie]

EVERY one of them has ENCOURAGED women to act in ways that are destroying our nation.

[ViLaLuz]

That’s God’s design of the family. Yes, the mother is also a leader but Dad is the head.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

NONE of them FORCED men to cooperate.

[nascarnation]

Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” was a huge success (for Democrats).