The editorial claims that “[f]amily planning promotes healthy families.” However, the widespread use of contraceptives in society has had a remarkably detrimental impact on the health of families and the raising of children. Robert Michael, an economist from the University of Chicago, directly attributed nearly half of the steep increase in U.S. divorce rates — doubling in just ten years between 1965 and 1975 — to the sudden rise in contraceptive use. As noted in National Vital Statistics Reports and research by Deborah Reed and Marcia Cancian, the number of children born out-of-wedlock has soared since the late 1960s. By 2020, of all births in the United States, nearly 41% were to unmarried women, up from 5% in 1960. According to the Census Bureau, there has been a profound increase in the number of children growing up in fatherless families (nearly tripling from 8% to 21% between 1960 and 2020). This is accompanied by significantly high numbers of single women and their children living in poverty over the last several decades. It is clear that the societal trend toward near-ubiquitous use of contraception has been accompanied by radically different attitudes toward sexual relations outside of marriage and has had negative ramifications for family life.
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