Thank you for that informative article. I knew some of the serious problems caused by births from unmarried-poor-uneducated parents, but didn't have the statistics. I applaud you for writing it, for having the guts to write it. It's about time someone had the guts to speak truthfully, in public, about this national problem. I've been saying for a long time, "It seem like the most irresponsible people, the least able to take care of children, are the ones popping out babies the fastest. That leaves the rest of us with higher tax rates to cover the welfare and medicaid roles, the increased jailing rates and other problems caused by it.

Some commenters were defensive in their roles as single moms. If they read the article without a chip on their shoulder, they would realize that if they are MATURE, responsible parents, they don't fall into the group that is causing the stress on the kids and the stress on our national.

The statistic that has changed that I was happy to see was that of the educated women who, in decades past, thought it was "the thing to do" to have a child on their own with no father. These same group of women have learned that having a child on their ow "ISN'T the thing to do".

A wise woman years ago told me that the downfall of our country was when "the pill" was introduced. It brought about "the sexual revolution", which now looks like an idea contrived by men in order to get more women to sleep with them; not unlike the "bi-sexual" craze many young people think is cool these days. It looks like another craze created by men so they can see chicks having sex together.

When I heard my step-son's 20-year-old ex-girlfriend on the phone saying, "I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I had to kick your son out again, because he won't get a job. All he wants to do is sit around and do drugs. The good news is that I'm pregnant again!" I wanted to cry, throw up, and wring her neck all at the same time. Yes, the love of a baby is like nothing else. But HOW SELFISH and IRRESPONSIBLE of these people to bring young lives into this world when the parents aren't even able to take care of themselves yet?! As a grandparent, to watch the stress the children go through is heartbreaking and we're helpless to do anything about it. As a side note, this correlates directly with your statistics in the article -- This girl is the daughter of an unwed, druggie mother, who was the daughter of an unwed mother.

Again, thank you so much for speaking out and exposing this romanticized tragedy.

I do agree that there are many un-wed mothers that are abusing the system, though there are also whole families abusing the system. I went to college and got my degree in sociology, so I've heard the statistics and details for years. The reason that some of us single moms, or soon to be single moms like myself, may feel a bit offended by the article is because it is very one-sided. There is no mention of the single parents who don't fall into that tragic category. Also, it leaves out the many sociological factors that can lead to people falling into the system and often getting lost. This country's social welfare system simply doesn't have the manpower or the financial resources to help people to get out of the system. There are also many who hit a hard patch and use those resources only to pick themselves up off the ground and then get off the welfare. The article, in some ways, is blaming women for this so-called "tragedy" when many women try to keep it together and the man still walks away. Some just feel that if an article is going to attack single parents it should at least mention that other scenarios to exist. These negative statistics are not all that is to be found when doing research on this matter.