"decision to have children without fathers leads to harsh, and self-perpetuating, economic conditions..."

Who said anything about without fathers? That's quite an assumption you're making. The child's parents are not married, but they most certainly have a father, and perhaps a very involved one...

I am an unmarried mother. I live with my partner, who is in all ways a husband to me, except by law. He is divorced after being married for 17 years and has two older children. I own a house which I bought before I met him.

There are many financial issues that come with a situation such as ours. I would imagine it's even more complicated if you have more money/property than we do.

I think there are a growing number of families like mine. We may get married someday, but at this point, we are both happy as we are. He is a great father to all of his children, married or not. Our son has all the benefits of a child born to married parents. My "stepchildren" have the benefits of two parents who are better friends now that they are separated, plus two step parents to add to the deal.

funny how in this day and age where we can see evidence of how divergent individual's thoughts can be, that people still expect everyone to still live the same way.....