Number of out-of-wedlock births in Graham and Greenlee counties alarming

Dear Editor:

Looking at the births posted in the Courier recently, I was shocked to see that only four of 14 births that week were to parents with a common last name.

Acknowledged is the fact that some married women retain their maiden names. I spent some time on the Internet and found the following information.

Arizona Department of Health Services’ statistics for the first quarter of 2009 show out-of-wedlock birth rates to be 46 percent for Graham and 52 percent for Greenlee County. Internet sources show an alarming trend.

National rates were less than 4 percent in the 1940s, 5 percent in the 1960s, 18 percent in 1980 and 40 percent in 2007.

We should be deeply concerned about our children’s future because studies find that children born out of wedlock, as compared to those raised in the traditional family, have a higher high school dropout rate, end up being poorer, have more behavioral and psychological problems, are more likely to be subjects of the criminal justice system, have lower self esteem and tend to follow the social mores of their parents. On average, these children are disadvantaged.

The impact of illegitimacy is also very costly on society as a whole. Last year, of the 665 births at Mount Graham Regional Medical Center, 326 (49 percent) were out-of-wedlock births paid for by AHCCCS. At the conservative figure of $5,000 per birth (doctor and hospital charges), these local out-of-wedlock births cost taxpayers a minimum of $1,630,000 in 2008. Imagine the statewide and national costs of out-of-wedlock births paid for by taxpayers. National health care may need overhauling, but obviously this lifestyle needs changing.

Future generations will, as a whole, pay a terrible price, both economically and socially, because of our generation’s tolerance of an expensive lifestyle that handicaps children. For the sake of future generations, it behooves parents, clergymen, educators, medical personnel, public servants and private citizens to work together to discourage out-of-wedlock birthing.

Eldon Angle

Safford