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ex
Without Marriage!
The costs
in shattered lives and
J
UST
a few decades ago,
getting pregnant when
unmarried was one of the
worst mistakes a girl
could make.
Now, a high school principal in
a large metropolitan area of the
United States says: "It's totally
acceptable by the kids. lt's not
the stigma it once was."
A social worker adds: "It's fash–
ionable. The girl will announce her
pregnancy.... It means you stand
out. You're different. Many believe
it's a way to instant adulthood. It
gives sorne an identity."
These girls and their boyfriends
don't know the consequences they
will bring on their offspring.
And , in the Western world,
there's another new trend. "Liber–
ated" single women are starting to
choose to have children out of wed–
lock. Many of these independent–
minded women resent having a
child's father around. They want to
fulfill mothering roles without liv–
ing with a husband or the child's
father.
A Fa lse To le rance
Tolerance and social acceptance of
having babies out of wedlock are
Aprll 1985
•
to soctety
by
Donald D. Schroeder
growing in many nations. It may be
surprising, even shocking, for sorne
to learn that in numerous areas or
neighborhoods of cities in
both
the
developed and developing world,
more than ha/f- in
sorne nations
more than 80 percent--of
babies
are born out of wedlock. Children
are being conceived and born with–
out the support and protection of
parents married to each other.
Most of these multiple millions of
victims are guaranteed a grim and
disadvantaged future.
Why such widespread lack of
concern for, or comprehension of,
illegitimacy's devastating conse–
quences?
Social experts in many nations
are calling the spiraling increase
and tolerance of out-of-wedlock
births a social catastrophe. It's time
to face a critica! reality that many
do not want to squarely face.
The proper begettal, birth and
rearing of children is a serious mat–
ter. You can't afford not to fully
comprehend the tragic conse–
quences of illegitimacy to human
and social development and make
every effort to avoid repeating
them.
Wldespread Social Tragedy
This serious crisis of out-of-wed-
lock births is impacting many
nations of the world.
In Brazil a few years ago a Bra–
zilian medica! official estimated
that half of all babies born in the
nation were illegitimate. He said:
" We have few sex education
courses.... Parents are too igno–
rant or embarrassed to talk to their
children.... The results are zoom–
ing incidences of unwanted preg–
nancies, venereal disease, abortions,
infections, sterility and unmarried
mothers being thrown out by their
families."
High illegitimacy rates are at the
root of severa! social problems in
Caribbean, Central and South
American nations.
According to figures from the
Chilean Ministry of Economics,
almost 30 percent of children in the
nation are born outside the bonds
of a legitimate marriage.
In Latin America the illegitima–
cy problem is quite diffuse. In
sorne Latin nations more than 70
percent of live births are illegiti–
mate. In others such births are a
third to half that rate.
In many Latín American na–
tions, common-law marriages (cou–
ples not legally married though
cohabiting) are widely accepted
with nearly the moral equivalence
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