That's an average of 3,500 unwed births per day. Without marriage to ensure the economic support of these children, the state has to step in. Child poverty in the United States is closely correlated with the single parent family. As the church and community have lost their voice in proclaiming a message of moral responsibility, they have been replaced by the voice of the state demanding financial responsibility. When voluntary private arrangements fail, coercive public arrangements have to be devised.
State laws require an unmarried mother to sign a document declaring the paternity of the child.
Fully half of the nearly 4.7 million unmarried women with children under 6 years of age lived in poverty in 1999. If paternity is disputed, genetic testing is required to resolve the question. If all else fails and the father reneges on his responsibility to support his child, the courts intervene again. If necessary, a woman is required to obtain a court order to enforce child support. So much for the argument that two people in love do not require a piece of paper.