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- <text id=91TT2781>
- <title>
- Dec. 16, 1991: American Notes:Population
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Dec. 16, 1991 The Smile of Freedom
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 39
- American Notes
- POPULATION
- Hold the Wedding Bells
- </hdr><body>
- <p> An old saw says that "first comes love, then comes marriage,
- then comes pushing a baby carriage," but that idea appears to be
- out of style. According to a new Census Bureau report, fewer and
- fewer single women who become pregnant with their first child
- get married before the baby is born.
- </p>
- <p> Analysts say the increase in out-of-wedlock births results
- in part from greater social acceptance of single motherhood.
- But other studies cite more dismaying factors: a shortage of
- men who earn enough to support a family and the high divorce
- rate. Many unwed mothers, says the Census Bureau, have come to
- believe that "they may be better off in the long run by relying
- more on the support of their parents and relatives...than
- by entering a potentially unstable marriage." But there is
- another problem: almost half of female-headed households live
- in poverty, compared with 8% of two-parent families.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-