The New York Times recently ran a story about the staggering numbers of unwed mothers under thirty who are having children. The national average of single women under 30 years old having children is 53 % but in one small town in Ohio, it is 63%. There are a couple of troubling things about this story.

First, as a staunch child advocate, I am deeply troubled that the rates are so high. Children born to single mothers are born with a profound disadvantage. The likelihood that the children will be poor, engage in high risk activities, suffer depression and sexual abuse (to name a few) is much higher than if their mothers were married. Not to mention the pain of growing up without the consistent involvement of their fathers. But we know all that. Beyond this, there is the troubling phenomenon reported in the story that these young women birthing children complain that there are no men out there “marriage-worthy.”

Here’s what bothers me. When did we come to the place where young women feel that men are “worthy” enough to engage in sexual intercourse and birth a child with them, but not suitable to marry?How profoundly sad for them…