Nearly two out of five women who give birth in Alabama are unmarried, and the rate is rising here and across the country as the way some people view marriage and family changes.
In 2007, about 38 percent of births in Alabama were to unwed mothers, up from 34 percent in 2000 and 30 percent in 1990, according to the state Department of Public Health, which gathers data from birth certificates.
Nationally, nearly 40 percent of births in 2007 were to unmarried mothers, a historic level, according to a report released last week by the National Center for Health Statistics. That's up from 32.4 percent in 1997.Although teen mothers remain far more likely than their older counterparts to be unmarried, their ranks have dwindled. Instead, increases in unmarried motherhood are occurring primarily among women in their 20s and 30s and among white women.
In 2007, there were 24,616 births to unmarried mothers in Alabama, 14 percent more than in 2000. During the same period, the number of births to unmarried teens decreased 6 percent (from 7,064 to 6,641). Births to unmarried women in their 20s jumped 21 percent (from 12,541 to 15,142) and births to unmarried women in their 30s increased 39 percent (from 1,917 to 2,668).
Family experts say the rise in births outside marriage can be attributed to a range of factors, including changing attitudes toward unwed mothers, women's increasing economic independence and a growing separation in some people's minds between marriage and parenthood.
Valerie McLean, owner of the Trak Shak in Homewood and co-owner of two other locations, was 35 when she had her son, 9-year-old Breck Cuddy. She is a single mom by choice, but she's not exactly single.
McLean has been in a relationship with Bruce Cuddy, her "spousal equivalent" for more than 15 years, but they've never married. Cuddy lives in North Carolina and Breck lives in Alabama with McLean. His father visits about every other weekend, McLean said.
"There's some rough times with it," she said. "A boy needs his dad. I do the best I can. I'm always the loudest one at the games." MORE