Opinion: Octomom is just the start

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

OK, Nadya Suleman is clearly an extreme case. But the most recently reported birth trends show the birth rate up in 2007--with 40% of those to unwed mothers. In fact, the nation broke a record for the number of births. Of course, this was two years ago, when the word ‘stimulus’ had different connotations than it does today. The economy is generally assumed to be having a depressing effect on birth rates as well as on our collective psyche.

Though teen births were up slightly, most of the births outside marriage were to mothers 20 and older, and demographers say most of the bulge, so to speak, was among women in their 30s and 40s.

It makes you wonder what all the fuss was, from the supporters of Proposition 8, who said that marriage had to be reserved for male-female couples rearing their joint children--which they consider the only really healthy model.

Clearly, a strong minority of new mothers disagree with that. Looks like if the conservative religious movement wants more kids raised by married couples, one of the more effective ways to go about it would be to let same-sex couples wed.