Understanding Illegitimacy

By Robert Rector 3

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The press has rushed to report a minuscule drop in teen births based on data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) !s usual" the mainstream media are focusin# on a tri$ial" politically correct story %hile i#norin# the real story buried in the data &ere's the real story( !ccordin# to CDC" a record )* + percent of children born in ,**- %ere born outside marria#e . a total of / 0, million children The o$er%helmin# ma1ority of the un%ed mothers %ere youn# adults %ith lo% education le$els" precisely the 2ind of indi$iduals %ho ha$e the #reatest difficulty #oin# it alone in our society 3nly about 0 4 percent of these out5of5%edloc2 births" /3*"***" %ere to #irls under /- 3f course" these births can be disastrous for the #irls in$ol$ed But as a social problem" teen pre#nancies and births are of 6uite limited importance By contrast" / 0, million out5of5%edloc2 births amount to an o$er%helmin# catastrophe for ta7payers and society The steady #ro%th of childbearin# by sin#le %omen and the #eneral collapse of marria#e" especially amon# the poor" lie at the heart of the mushroomin# %elfare state This year" ta7payers %ill spend o$er 83** billion pro$idin# means5tested %elfare aid to sin#le parents The a$era#e sin#le mother recei$es nearly three dollars in #o$ernment benefits for each dollar she pays in ta7es These subsidies are funded lar#ely by the hea$y ta7es paid by hi#her5income married couples !merica is rapidly becomin# a t%o5caste society" %ith marria#e and education at the di$idin# line Children born to married couples %ith a colle#e education are mostly in the top half of the population9 children born to sin#le mothers %ith hi#h5school de#rees or less are mostly in the bottom half The disappearance of marria#e in lo%5income communities is the predominant cause of child po$erty in the : ; today <f poor sin#le mothers %ere married to the fathers of their children" t%o5thirds of them %ould not be poor The absence of a husband and father from the home also is a stron# contributin# factor to failure in school" crime" dru# abuse" emotional disturbance" and a host of other social problems <n /=+3" as Pres >yndon ?ohnson %as launchin# the @ar on Po$erty" 0 percent of !merican children %ere born outside marria#e @hite &ouse staffer Daniel Patric2 Aoynihan" later : ; ;enator from Be% Cor2 " %arned the nation of the calamities associated %ith the #ro%in# number of out5of5%edloc2 births Dor more than )* years" our society has i#nored Aoynihan's %arnin#s Despite the transparent lin2a#es amon# po$erty" social problems" and disinte#ration of

the family" the liberal intelli#entsia has %atched the steady collapse of marria#e in lo%5income communities %ith silent indifference The reasonE Aost liberal academics re#ard marria#e as an outdated" socially bac2%ard institution9 they ha$e shed no tears o$er its demise E$en %orse" liberal politicians and anonymous #o$ernment bureaucrats ha$e a $ested interest in the #ro%th of the %elfare state" and nothin# #ro%s the %elfare state li2e the disappearance of marria#e ;in#le mothers are inherently in far #reater need of #o$ernment support than married couples" so an increase in sin#le parenthood leads almost ine$itably to an increase in #o$ernment benefits and ser$ices and a thri$in# %elfare industry to supply them Aarital collapse creates a bur#eonin# ne% clientele dependent on #o$ernment ser$ices and political patrons @hen liberals refuse to tal2 about marria#e and the poor in the same breath" they are #uilty of %illful ne#lect of the ma1or source of po$erty Dor the statist" the collapse of marria#e is a #ift that 2eeps on #i$in# <t's no accident that the modern %elfare system re%ards sin#le parents and penaliFes married couples The >eft" %ith the complicity of the liberal media" hypes the issue of teen pre#nancy . partly because feminists thin2 #irls should attend colle#e for a fe% years before becomin# sin#le mothers" partly in order to stren#then their a#enda of promotin# condom use and permissi$e se7 ed in the schools (<n reality" condom proselytiFin# is a bo#us ans%er to actual social problems Contrary to con$entional %isdom" lac2 of access to birth control isn't a si#nificant contributor to non5marital pre#nancy amon# teens or non5teens ) >iberal 1ournalists and pundits deliberately remain silent on the far lar#er issue of out5of5 %edloc2 childbearin# amon# adults because they belie$e the collapse of marria#e is irrele$ant" if not beni#n Drom their perspecti$e" concern about marria#e is a mere red5state superstition9 the important tas2 is to increase #o$ernment subsidies as %e build a post5marria#e society <t should" thus" be no surprise that President 3bama's ne% bud#et proposes to eliminate the only #o$ernment pro#ram aimed at stren#thenin# marria#e in lo%5income communities <f 3bama and &ouse ;pea2er Bancy Pelosi ha$e their %ay" the tiny" recently created healthy marria#e initiati$e (8/** million annually) %ill be abolished ne7t year The statist >eft is not content to merely %atch marria#e die9 it see2s to nail the coffin lid ti#htly shut Robert Rector is senior research fellow in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation.