A new statistic on motherhood was recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There were 3,613,647 births registered in the United States in 2020,” reports CNS News’s Terence Jeffrey, who sadly adds that “1,464,121 of these — or 40.5 percent — were to unmarried mothers.”

This is actually not the highest this statistic has ever been. In 2007 and 2008, 51.8% of women gave birth to babies out of wedlock, and the percentage of unwed mothers giving birth in 2020 was actually not as high as in 2019. Nevertheless, this perpetually high rate of births to unwed mothers can be traced back to the 1960s with the inception of Medicaid.

This is not the United States that our parents and grandparents knew. As columnist Star Parker pointed out regarding the mid-20th century: “American children were still allowed to read from the Bible and pray. Abortion was illegal. Seventy-five percent of American adults ages 18 and above were married, compared with 50% today. A little over 5% of American babies were born to unwed mothers.”

It’s not a coincidence that after the government, in an act of “compassion” toward unmarried women, instituted Medicaid (and other welfare programs), there was an explosion in out-of-wedlock babies. After all, it usually pays better to have children and not be married. The government has nurtured a nanny state that’s seeking to “provide” for people from cradle to grave.

We live in a postmodern, materialist society that glories in contradiction. It is permissive of all sorts of destructive behavior. The radical Left uses these tendencies as a chain to enslave or a scourge with which to do battle. In terms of unwed mothers and Medicaid babies, this produces a cycle not just of poverty but of fatherlessness. Despite rumors to the contrary, a stable two-parent home is what’s best for children.

The Left also uses destructive tendencies as a weapon against all naysayers. It calls those of us who cherish the good that nuclear families have brought old-fashioned, prudish, and backward. Radical leftists view family and marriage as an enemy to “freedom” because, in reality, it is commitment to selflessness.

We live in a fallen world, and as a result there will always be unwed mothers and fatherlessness. This consistently high percentage of babies born out of wedlock tells a greater story. It tells the story of an America that is getting sicker, not better. It is just one of the many alter calls that echo through our nation.