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Michael Goodwin

The human toll of out-of-wedlock births

Indeed, the crux of the campaign is summed up in a poster that says, “If you finish high school, get a job and get married before having children, you have a 98% chance of not being in poverty.”

Not incidentally, nearly 90 percent of teen births are covered by Medicaid or other programs funded by taxpayers.

Before it launched the ads, the city held focus groups to test the messages. One theme that emerged was that many teens had, as Doar put it, “a higher sense of confidence about their ability to be successful parents than the facts justified.”

“We wanted to push back on that and expose the overconfidence,” he said. “We want people to understand how hard and complicated it is in the long run.”

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Well according to liberals, just tell them not to become dads…

right2bright on March 6, 2013 at 6:11 PM

Something tells me a rather significant portion of unwed mothers are with the fathers.

If my wife and I were democrats wed have never gotten married and then we’d be eligible for tons of benefits. We could buy a newly build subsidized home for cheap. We could get food stamps and milk credits and a state provided babysitter. Wed get free healthcare etc..

jhffmn on March 6, 2013 at 6:15 PM

Well according to liberals, just tell them not to become dads…
right2bright on March 6, 2013 at 6:11 PM

And give up all those voters!?!

gwelf on March 6, 2013 at 6:18 PM

If my wife and I were democrats wed have never gotten married and then we’d be eligible for tons of benefits. We could buy a newly build subsidized home for cheap. We could get food stamps and milk credits and a state provided babysitter. Wed get free healthcare etc..

jhffmn on March 6, 2013 at 6:15 PM

My Dad’s a fairly liberal Democrat.

He and my mom have been helping (basically supporting) a family of 7 that has been living in their basement for the past 4 years.

He refused to believe that welfare was set up to keep people dependent on the government.

That was until he saw how badly their benefits were cut the moment they got married. Although the husband was making less than 4k per year (and owed $450/month in child support), their food stamps, medical, etc were cut drastically.

Dad’s still a liberal Democrat, but, he has a bit less faith in the real purpose of welfare now.

JadeNYU on March 6, 2013 at 6:26 PM

One theme that emerged was that many teens had, as Doar put it, “a higher sense of confidence about their ability to be successful parents than the facts justified.”

Well of course they do. On television they see lots of unwed mothers having babies. And then once the baby arrives (usually with a lot of fanfare), and after a couple of episodes, the kids are usually rarely seen again. The character on the show is usually pawning the kid off on his/her parents or others to look after it so they can go out partying (or Barbados, on “Friends”).

Dan Quayle was right about Murphy Brown. After she had the kid, Eldin was the one usually taking care of it.

Mitoch55 on March 6, 2013 at 6:38 PM

Can’t pin this one on teh gheys