Apr 02
Records show that over 50 percent* of the births in Columbus County last year were illegitimate. What do you think of this? Should anything be done differently in our homes, schools, communities or places of worship to address this issue?
*63 percent was listed in The News Reporter article on April 2.
April 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Unfortunately, I did not find the percentage of illegitimate births in Columbus County shocking at all. That’s because I see these unwed mothers every week at A Woman’s Choices Pregnancy Care Center. The impact of unwed parenthood cannot be overstated. To cite just one statistic, a child who is living in a home with his mother and her boyfriend (not the birth father) is 33 times more likely to experience child abuse than a child living in a home with married parents. The more you look into this issue, the more frightening it becomes.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:15 pm
North Carolina is in the stone ages! They have laws that force schools to teach abstinence. While abstinence is the best method to prevent unwanted pregnancies and disease, we live in a different world now. Our popular culture says to have sex early and often. Unfortunately our pop culture does not educate them on birth control and disease prevention. Our schools need to teach safer sex. They need to give children all of the information, not hide facts. If you hide things from them they will be more curious to try it. The sad thing is that this is an issue that parents should be responsible for, but at least in our county 63% have shrugged it off. If parents are not going to do anything, the schools are the best hope for our children. Why do schools have to do everything now?
April 4th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I see this story appears to be the “first” in a series and is full of shock value. I noticed immediately that the overall number of births in Columbus County are down from 744 to 440 between 2006 and 2007 a 40 percent decrease. The number of illegitimate births also dropped from 357 to 277 a decrease of 22 percent. We’ll have to see the data for 2007 to see if the downward trend continues. It is obvious that many of the negatives associated with illegitimate or out-of-wedlock births are the result of such births a decade or so ago…current rates appear to be going down.
April 4th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Mr. Anderson’s comments about the number of declining births and illegitimate children are based on incomplete numbers for 2006 — as pointed out in the story. The 2006 birth number of 440 does not include 70 Hispanic births, also noted in the story, thus raising the total in-county births in 2006 to 510. This 510 is the number of birth certificates on file in the Columbus County Register of Deeds office, and it compares to 493 birth certificates in 2005.
However, these in-county birth numbers are supplimented each year by births to Columbus County residents in New Hanover, Robeson, Sampson, Bladen, Brunswick and other North Carolina counties, as well as South Carolina and other states.
Thus, the 493 in-county birth total in 2005 was raised to 744 when the State Division of Health Statistics included all births to Columbus County residents, regardless of where born. And, the 2005 number of illegitimate births also includes these outside Columbus County children.
Complete figures for 2006 are not available from the state, and a better picture of the entire 90-year history of births in this county can be seen Thursday, April 5, in a second front-page story.
April 7th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Isn’t it sad that there is a decline in the nuclear family and a decline in values? How many of these families with illegitimate births are sitting down nightly to dinner? How many are creating homes with morals? Isn’t it sad that the country–not just the county–is spiraling out of control with so much negativity and vulgarity thrown at us daily. I wish there was a simple answer to it all. It seems like home and family are just not important anymore. How wrong this is….
April 17th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
So our leaders are shocked that Columbus Co has problems with young people giving birth and high drop out rates??????Where have they been for the last 100yrs? Keeping their heads in the sand and not being willing to see changes in the system without being forced to do so by an news paper? Please, time to open up their minds to what is going on in this area. we have too many poor, uneducated people, we have co. commissions that earn more in a service job than many earn on full time jobs and many parents live in daily stress to put food on the table. Poor health, poor educations and high rates of families breaking up with violence, divorce and out of wedlock births. This is not news, this is old information that people don’t want to know or see. My gosh, then they would have to do something about it!
May 13th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
We all know that no one in Columbus county has sex, all of these births are immaculate conceptions! If you ask any parent it’s not their child doing it, so I guess we can all continue reading the bible and praying it goes away since we’re not allowed to talk about it or prevent it by providing condoms to youth.