Just published at the Washington Post —

The number of babies being born out of wedlock has increased sharply in the United States, driven primarily by significant jumps in women in their 20s and 30s having children without getting married, according to a federal report released today.

More than 1.7 million babies were born to unmarried women in 2007, a 26 percent rise from 2002 and more than double the number in 1980, according to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The increase reflected a 21 percent jump in the rates of unmarried women giving birth, which rose from 43.7 per 1,000 women in 2002 to 52.9 per 1,000 women.

That means that unmarried women accounted for 39.7 percent of all U.S. births in 2007 — nearly four out of every 10 newborns — up from 34 percent in 2002 and more than double the percentage in 1980.

Well, so much for the Healthy Marriage Initiative, not to mention the Abstinence Only Until Marriage programs. On the plus side, if we need to find junk to cut out of the federal budget, I have a couple of suggestions.

However, it appears the Obama Administration has adopted the Healthy Marriage Initiative rather than kill it. Please, just de-fund the blasted thing.