The promise of birth control (2015)

Children born outside of marriage fare worse than children born to married parents, on average. Births to unwed mothers and single parenthood have other negative consequences, including increased spending on health care and social welfare programs. The majority of such births are unplanned. Greater access to birth control--particularly the newer, more effective types of birth control known as long-acting, reversible contraception--helps women delay childbearing until they and their partners are in a stable relationship, ready to marry, and ready to become parents. Attempts to expand voluntary use of long-acting contraception are being disrupted by political infighting. ********** The increase in childbearing outside of marriage since the 1960s has exacerbated America's most pressing social problems, hampering efforts to promote child development, alleviate poverty, and improve economic mobility. Such births--usually unplanned and occurring outside stable relationships--portend negative consequences for the parents, the child, and society. The nation has developed a number of policies to promote marriage as the best environment for raising children, but effective birth control is an essential tool for preventing early, unplanned births. Since the Food and Drug Administration first approved the Enovid pill as a contraceptive in 1960, millions of married and unmarried women have used oral contraceptives to control their fertility, more or less successfully. Now we have even more effective forms of birth control, known as long-acting, reversible contraception (LARCs). LARCs include intrauterine devices (IUDs) and subdermal implants. These newer forms of birth control are not only effective but safe for almost all women. They have the potential to dramatically reduce the rate of both unplanned pregnancies and abortions. This brief, which accompanies a new Future of Children issue on marriage, argues that of all the policies that might prevent nonmarital births and restore marriage, or at least more stable relationships and better parenting, helping couples to avoid early, unplanned childbearing may be the most effective. The Frequency of Nonmarital Births In 1960, only 5 percent of births in the United States occurred outside marriage. That number then began to rise steadily, peaking at 41 percent in 2009. What is going on here? First, people are marrying much later or not at all. But they have not stopped having sex, and sex leads to pregnancy. Second, almost three-quarters of pregnancies to single women under the age of 30 are unplanned. Though some of these pregnancies will be aborted, many will be carried to term, and 60 percent of nonmarital births to women under 30 are unplanned. In short, young adults are drifting into parenthood unintentionally. Recent trends in nonmarital childbearing are a bit more encouraging. Since 2009, the percentage of nonmarital births has held steady or declined slightly. This improvement could be a temporary result of the financial hardships imposed by the Great Recession of 2007-09. Or it could stem from more fundamental changes in attitudes or in the availability of birth control. The second interpretation is reinforced by examining the nonmarital birthrate per 1,000 women aged 15-44. Like the percentage of births outside marriage, the nonmarital birthrate increased rapidly from 1950 to 1990, rising from about 14 to nearly 44 per 1,000. But the rate in 2013, more than two decades later, was more or less the same as the rate in 1991 (44.8 vs. 45). Changes in the rate of births to teens are even more encouraging: the rate has declined every year except two since 1991, and over that period it has fallen more than 60 percent. Why Worry? Research on the decline in marriage, reviewed in the new issue of the Future of Children (co-edited by Sara McLanahan and Isabel Sawhill), indicates that childbearing outside of marriage is associated with a number of negative outcomes. …