Shalala Revives ‘Murphy Brown’ Pregnancy Issue

In a blunt warning about the dangers of unwed teen-age motherhood, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said Thursday that television character Murphy Brown set a bad example by having a fictional baby out of wedlock.

With the comment, Shalala echoed sentiments that led to a storm of controversy when uttered two years ago by then-Vice President Dan Quayle.

“I don’t think anyone in public life today ought to condone children born out of wedlock, . . . even if the family is financially able,” Shalala replied when Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) asked her whether the unmarried Murphy Brown was right or wrong in having a child. Shalala’s comments came in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on President Clinton’s welfare reform plan.

The pointed remarks by Shalala dramatized the increasing willingness of mainstream Democrats to address the destructive social and economic consequences of rising birthrates among unmarried women and girls.

About 30% of all children now are born to unmarried mothers, representing one in five white babies and two of three African American infants, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. In the past, many Democrats have charged that Quayle and other critics of the trend were racist, sexist or both. Clinton has repeatedly raised concerns about the increasing numbers.

Quayle’s allusion to the popular “Murphy Brown” sitcom came during a speech on May 19, 1992, to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. He called for “social sanctions” against women who irresponsibly bear children outside of marriage, saying that it “mocks the importance of fathers.” The speech was ridiculed by Democrats as well as Hollywood celebrities.

Clinton, then seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination, dismissed Quayle’s comments as “cynical election-year politics.” Even then-President George Bush’s spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, said at the time: “We don’t want to take on a popular TV character.”

Informed Thursday of Shalala’s remarks, David Beckwith, Quayle’s former press secretary, told a reporter: “You have made my day. . . . I am pleased that she has recognized the obvious.”

Shalala said she wants government to tell unwed teen-age mothers that they have “made a mistake.” Differing with those who advocate distribution of condoms in schools as a way to deal with the problem, she declared: “We are absolutely committed to promoting abstinence-based programs in the schools as a key to preventing teen pregnancy.”

She balked, however, at House Republican demands for a federal cut-off of cash benefits to welfare mothers who have another child, saying that would leave such families destitute.

She called for a national educational campaign and for community-based programs to deliver a clear message to young people about delaying sexual activity until they finish high school and find a job.

“Half of the welfare recipients were parents as teens,” Shalala said. “If you are an unmarried teen-age mother, your chances of ending up poor for the rest of your life are very high.”

Without changes in federal policy, she added, half of those on the welfare rolls will be teen-agers by the end of this century. “This is a disaster--children having children,” Shalala said.

Under Clinton’s proposal, women under age 18 who have children would be required to live with their families or other adults, finish high school and take job training or get a job within two years after going on welfare.

The Administration’s plan also would impose new measures to establish paternity and require unwed fathers to pay child support, withholding benefits from mothers who refuse to cooperate with state agencies in finding the fathers and setting up a nationwide system to enforce payment of child support, including revocation of driver’s licenses of delinquent parents.

Shalala said more than 14 million Americans now receive Aid to Families With Dependent Children at a cost of more than $22 billion a year, with more than 3 million recipients added to the rolls in the last five years.

“This issue has become even more urgent in light of some disturbing trends,” she testified. “More and more children are born to teen-age mothers and outside of marriage. Almost half of all single mothers receiving AFDC--about 42%--are or have been teen-age mothers.”

While Shalala called for bipartisan backing, Republicans on the Ways and Means panel sharply criticized the Clinton plan, arguing that it would be phased in too slowly and was sent to Congress far too late in the session to be enacted this year.

But Rep. Sam Gibbons (D-Fla.), chairman of the panel, said welfare reform has a high priority and Rep. Harold E. Ford (D-Tenn.), chairman of a subcommittee with jurisdiction over welfare, said the bill could be passed this year.

In her testimony, however, Shalala said passage of health care reform legislation is essential before welfare reform can work effectively. As many as 15% of women on welfare will be reluctant to give up Medicaid benefits to take a job without assurance of health care for children, she said.