Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, May 12, 2024

“It’s Mother’s Day. Each year I celebrate by staying home from church and having breakfast in bed. If you’re having such a day, perhaps continue with your magical glow by moving to the next column. Because this is going to get heavy fast.

Today of all days, I want to talk about how motherhood has fundamentally changed, relative to American history and relative to anywhere else in the world. The data tell the story best. In 1960, 5% of babies were born to unmarried mothers. In 1991, when the National Commission on Children raised this issue, it had risen to 25%. Now, about 40% of American babies are born to unmarried parents, according to research published by Child Trends. Whether a child is given a two-parent home — one of the biggest social advantages in life — is essentially a coin flip.

This is not a story about divorce. It’s not a story about cohabitation. It’s not even a story about teenage girls giving birth (the rate of which has plummeted). It’s about unpartnered women — and specifically women with a high school degree or less — increasingly choosing to become mothers alone.

As a result, a quarter of American children are raised in a home with a single parent (nearly always the mother), according to Pew Research. This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. Truly. In China, it’s 3%. In Mexico, it’s 7%. In beautiful romantic France, it’s 16%. In Israel, it’s 5%. In Canada, it’s 15%.”