For the first time in 60 years of data collection, a Census Bureau study found that a majority of firstborn children in America are now born out of wedlock. Back in the 1930s the figure was 18 percent. These women are old enough to marry, but choose to be single mothers. But there are plenty of glamorous role models, with celebrities like Madonna, Jodie Foster, and Rosie O'Donnell proudly raising their children alone. Yet even as unwed motherhood seems to be escalating out of control, younger people say they long for a return to traditional families, according to a study by the service group Public Allies.
Economists theorize that marriages are less alluring because men and women have similar roles.
Since the husband no longer acts primarily as breadwinner and the wife as child-rearer, the partners depend less upon one another. That kind of a connection is a lot less strong glue than obligation and dependency and social rules. The new pills delay or prevent ovulation, keeping a woman's eggs from entering the uterus to be fertilized. Not surprisingly, the biggest customer for morning-after pills is Planned Parenthood, which dispenses them in their clinics. Gee thanks, Mom Deborah Gaines picked the wrong day for an abortion in 1994.