As one reader rightly implied, the damage that “no-fault” divorce has inflicted on marriage is not the only reason for the growing acceptance of out-of-wedlock births. NFD is but the first major legal consequence of the Sexual Revolution spawned by the ideals of Sigmund Freud and Margaret Sanger.

Believing that man’s greatest happiness was in sexual satisfaction, Freud argued that traditional morality created inhibitions that led to neuroses. Sanger felt similarly, calling the morality of self-denial “cruel,” and advocating a “salvation by sex.” According to Sanger, all that was needed to liberate us from the yoke of conscience and usher in the utopian age was open communication and birth control.

Fifty years later in 1972 (and three years after NFD), contraceptives for unmarried individuals were legalized. With marriage changed by NFD from a vow before God to a contract between two parties, the legalization of birth control resulted in three things: 1) greater acceptance of sex outside of marriage, 2) the notion that sex should be enjoyed without fear of consequence, and 3) an attitude about sex that emphasized recreation over procreation.

A year later, with Roe v. Wade, one of the consequences of unprotected sex (pregnancy) became likened to a disease of which the mother was entitled to be “cured.” Tragically, 40 million “cures” (and counting) have been produced within the sterile clinics of a billion dollar industry.

In the ensuing 30-plus years, these developments have ushered in not the utopia of Sanger, but a dystopia in which the out-of-wedlock birth rate is but one disturbing trend among burgeoning divorce rates, single parent homes, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases with all of the concomitant problems of abuse, poverty, and emotional trauma.

Comments

[Diane Singer]

Since I work in the building which houses the Women's Studies Program, I'm often treated to bulletin boards celebrating women 'pioneers.' Last year, it was one on Margaret Sanger -- and I just wanted to gag when I saw it. We need to keep getting the word out that this woman was evil, as the 'rotten fruit' of her crusades has made clear. Thanks for the post.