Statistics are revealing. In recent years the teen birth rate in the United States has dropped until this last year when it was the lowest on record. This is mostly good news, if only the declining abortion rate was not a factor at all (the rate of abortions has steadily declined over the last twenty years).
But the problem has evolved in a new direction: births to unwed mothers have reached an all-time high. 37% of all births in the United States are to unwed mothers, mostly women in their twenties, many of whom are involved with the father but not married to him. In the last fifty years, the average age of first marriages is has risen by four and five years for men and women respectively.
What does this mean? Teenage pregnancy and abortion, as issues, are heading in the right direction. The real fight today is the decline of the institution of marriage. People are substituting live-together-first relationships for real marriage, sabotaging their future in the process. Cohabitants separate at a rate of over 40% before marriage but afterwards they are 50% more likely to get divorced than those who did not live together before marriage. If a home is established on a trial basis, without full commitment and trust, it's difficult to get that jump-started midstream.
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