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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 10, 198 5
PAGE 13
maternal health conducted in 1982 by the National Center for
Health Statistics•••• "The proportion of women who delayed sexual
intercourse until marriage declined from 48 per cent among women
marrying during the period 1960-64, to 21 per cent among women
marrying in the years 1975-79," the authors wrote. The largest
decline appears to have occurred between 1965-69, when 42 per
cent of women marrying for the first time had not previously had
intercourse, and 1970-74, when only 28 per cent had delayed in
tercourse, the study said••••
At the same time this increase in premarital intercourse has been
occurring, women have been postponing marriage in favor of in
creasing their education and advancing their careers in larger
numbers than ever before, meaning that on average women remained
single longer.
And now, more women are desiring to be mothers without being married, as the
following report titled "More Women Are Accepting Challenge of Motherhood
Without Marriage," also from the LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER (April 21),
reveals:
An increasing number of women across the country•••have decided
to become mothers without first becoming wives. Driven by an
overwhelming desire for a child, and in many cases, the biologi
cal clock, these women have transcended social conventions to be
come single mothers in a nation that doesn't necessarily under
stand.
"More and more people are doing it--not only here, but in other
countries as well," said Fae Pannor, a psychotherapist with the
Los Angeles Women's Therapy Center in Culver City, who has coun
seled many such women. "I think it is the women's movement that
has made room for these kinds of decisions. It's another aspect
of reproductive freedom--women are free to have a child without
having to be married, so they can take charge of their own
lives."••• Although there are no statistics on single mothers by
choice, according to the U.S. Census, more than 1 million unmar
ried mothers are raising families, while more than 3 million
children live with mothers who have never married.
In response to this growing phenomena, groups have formed across
the country to help women with the fears and the stress, and to
encourage the pleasures and rewards, of having children on their
own•••• While some women ask male friends to father a child,
others become pregnant and never tell the father, experts said.
And an increasing number become pregnant through artificial in
semination, Pannor said••••
"I always had wanted children," said Louise, a slim woman with
lanky brown hair and oversized glasses who lives in a cramped
one-bedroom Palms apartment with 21-month-old Claire. "I'd rath
er have a husband, but it never happened for me and life is short
and I just decided to have a family even if I weren't married••••
I think if you're going to have a baby you should be able to pro
vide a decent life for them, but I don't think a child has to have
� mother and father to be happy.
ff"
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