PUBLIC FORUM\Readers debate state role in reducing unwed births.

I believe the governor is absolutely correct when he encourages the use of contraceptives to reduce illegitimate births, and statutory rape prosecutions to encourage responsibility. However, that is just treating the symptom of illegitimacy.

A little over 30 years ago it was socially unacceptable to have children out of wedlock, but the Great Society with all of its welfare programs has not only removed the stigma of illegitimacy, it has encouraged illegitimacy.

For the welfare mothers, it is a cottage industry. The more out-of-wedlock babies they have, the more welfare money they get. And of course, this has become a social pattern that has been learned generation after generation.

Now we have an epidemic situation where over 60 percent of children in welfare homes are born illegitimately.

This government-subsidized, socially destructive pattern must be broken. Newborns must be removed from these inhuman and oppressive environments and placed into environments that nurture them and prepare them for a productive life.

Good orphanages and good foster homes can prepare these children for life. Granted, life there isn't as good as it is in intact, nurturing homes with loving and capable parents - but it's a lot better than growing up like an animal in the streets.

It may take a generation or two, and it may initially cost a little more money, but I believe that within 20 years welfare rolls could be drastically cut, and the crime rate could be reduced to the rate that it was in the 1950s.

- Richard F. Westfall

West Hills

Unwed births, like all self-destructive activities of young and old alike, are not isolated problems. They are multiple symptoms of the cancer now spreading widely in our society, the trend to self-centeredness, the modern me-now philosophy of life.

I believe that the problem of unwed births, along with the other teen problems like violence, gangs, drug addiction and suicide, can only be solved by coordinated activity among ourselves, in the community and in the media, to bring society out of its deadly preoccupation with self, back to the concept of sharing and teaming.

Let's get together and actively remind and reconvince ourselves of some of the obvious truths, like: Happiness is not found within yourself or in "fun stuff"; women and men each lack exactly what the other has but the committed woman-man team, the family, has it all; and each new baby is a marvelous, miraculous creation with the potential to become the most valued adult the world has ever seen, but only if loving parents devote the time and energy to help the child fulfill that potential.

- Owen W. Dykema

West Hills

Wilson's prevention agenda misses the critical and defining issue regarding teen pregnancy and illegitimate births. The problem is not teen pregnancy, but teen sexual activity.

Teen promiscuity is the basis for more than a dozen social problems, any one of which could be a topic for this Public Forum. When you add AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, infertility, fatherless babies, welfare mothers and the lack of an honorable status for virgins, we find that all these ills could be healed and stopped among the teen-age population if abstinence was taught, revered and elevated to the standard it used to be.

Self-restraint is a virtue which rarely gets the rave reviews it deserves.

- Coleen Ary

Chairman

Citizens for Truth in Education

Simi Valley 

The most practical, reasonable and fairest formula for reducing illegitimate births by 98 percent or more would be to pass federal legislation that will put the blame and burden where it belongs, on the male and female who created that child.

If the parents of that child decide not to marry each other and go their separate ways then issue each a Social Security number, which will be furnished to the welfare authorities who will care for the child. Those child-care expenses will be charged against these parents until such time they will be able to begin paying off the legal obligation. Fair enough?

Why should taxpayers pay for such irresponsible, immoral and perhaps illegal conduct?

- John L. Mulley

Tarzana

Unwanted births result in unwanted babies and this is just because the couple was too lazy to practice any form of birth control. Their sexual gratification for that moment was the only thing that they cared about. Now this infant can become just another disposable item in their conveniently disposable way of live.

Their attitude probably is, just waste the baby, get an abortion because this kid will just be an inconvenience to me. If questioned, these irresponsible couples would be very fast to tell you what their rights are but they wouldn't have the slightest idea as to their responsibilities for their actions either to themselves, the child or to their community.

They probably would choose to be ignorant of their responsibilities for that would get in the way of their pleasures. The taxpayers should not be obligated to pay for the care of the child or for the mother. There was an able-bodied man involved in this and now he can assume his responsibilities and support them.

In other words, welcome to reality. Only a good, solid background of family values will teach the good moral values that are so necessary and that these people so desperately need.

We all have to take charge of our lives and also to take responsibility for our actions, that should be the eleventh commandment.

- Conrad Hubert

North Hollywood

Should we provide contraceptives, legal services, expensive court trials and incarceration, before our children have learned to identify right from wrong?

Nothing has changed and nothing will change until our young people have learned, accepted, assimilated and practiced higher standards of morals and principles.

When we have learned where to send them, who can teach them and what they should be taught, then we can raise our expectations. Reliable instruction can be found in the Bible, in the Talmud or the Koran. Whatever your persuasion, it's all in one of these books.

I have had extensive experience with teen-agers who have had proper training and those who have not. Believe me, there is a vast difference - a difference that grows and grows as they grow older.

- Edward La Mont

Newhall

Perhaps Wilson, in all good faith, feels he is helping parents with his "prevention agenda." I feel otherwise. It is not up to the state to supply moral teachings, or agendas, to our children.

Values are generally learned throughout life, from personal experience and formed by the society that surrounds each of us. We each make personal choices as to which values we wish to adopt. Political values, such as the state's prevention agenda, are products of scientific rationalism of governmental elites and cost-benefit analysis.

- Marilyn Anita Dalrymple

Lancaster

If teen-agers are still dependent on their parents for support, then they should have their parents' permission to have an abortion. An abortion is a big decision to make even for an adult.

- Mary E. Ballester

Arleta

You are asking simple citizens to address a perpetual topic: How the state should deal with illegitimate births in using our monies to make contraceptives more available.

The perplexity is that "the state" can't fix teen sexuality any more than it can get adolescents to eat vegetables. The government can't repair everything in life; it wasn't meant to. It has to be individual teens who understand the healthiest choice, not a false sense of security in contraceptives.

- Louise A. Metcalf

Simi Valley

As usual we try to solve problems - in this case illegitimacy - by addressing the symptoms rather than the causes.

Increasing the availability of contraceptives and awarding grants to prosecute statutory rape cases is addressing the symptom of increased promiscuity. The fact is that during the past four decades there has been a dramatic increase in the availability of contraceptives with a parallel increase in promiscuity. It is quite plausible that the increase in the availability of contraceptives has promoted promiscuity and extra-marital births.

The crime rate for males growing up in fatherless homes is a multiple of what it is for males growing up with fatherly guidance. Consequently, fatherless males crowd the nation's jails.

A young single-parent mother usually has less-than-average education and therefore has less to pass on to her offspring. If a mother has to run a whole household by herself, there is less adult time available for individual attention to children. The result is less-educated children resulting in less-educated adults.

The majority of statutory rapers may be products of illegitimacy themselves and as such do not feel much remorse by fathering more of same. Allow illegitimacy to bring financial hardship. Popularize anew the stigma of "slut." Encourage the media to enumerate the negative social impact of illegitimacy.

- Alf Temme

Van Nuys

Who wants to bring back 'the scarlet letter?'

Lately, politicians and pundits have been bombarding us with the so-called crisis of illegitimacy, which is being blamed for rising crime rates, increasing poverty, poor education and the breakdown of the family unit. The answer, claim many talking heads and radio talk-show hosts, is to return to "traditional moral values" and to revive the stigma which was until recently attached to unwed motherhood. In California, Wilson has added his name to the long list of men in power who now preach this doctrine.

Am I the only person left who thinks that the current lack of stigma against unwed motherhood represents progress for our society? Speak up, ladies. How many of you really want to return to the days of the scarlet latter?

The sexual revolution of the 1960s brought some results we all could have done without, such as increasing VD rates and trivializing of the sex act. Of course there are social problems in California that urgently need to be addressed. Should teen-agers - wed or unwed - be discouraged from having sex and becoming parents? Yes. Should we encourage the participation of both parents in raising their children? Of course.

But this coin has a flip side. Women now recognize and claim the right to have nonmarital sex, a right that men in Western society have been asserting for centuries. Single women who have babies and who provide a fit and loving home for their children can now do so with their heads held high. These mothers, rich and poor, need no longer endure a shame in which their "illegitimate," innocent children were once forced to share.

- Mary Benedict

Sherman Oaks