U.S. BIRTHS - THE GOOD AND THE BAD - AT 2:46 P.M. ET:

ATLANTA (AP) - More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history, topping the peak during the baby boom 50 years earlier, federal researchers reported Wednesday.
There is both good and bad news from the more than 4.3 million births:

_The U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend.

_However, the teen birth rate was up for the second year in a row.

The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend begun years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older.

COMMENT:  Forty percent of births are out of wedlock.  Not great.  I'm not disparaging single mothers.  Many will do their best, but the economic pressure on them will be enormous.  The family used to be called America's fortress.  The fortress is developing cracks. 

March 18, 2009