Tough support laws cut unwed births--U.S. study.SEATTLE Seattle (sēăt`əl), city (1990 pop. 516,259), seat of King co., W Wash., built on seven hills, between Elliott Bay of Puget Sound and Lake Washington; inc. 1869. -- The unintended consequence For the 1996 novel by John Ross, see . Unintended consequences are situations where an action results in an outcome that is not (or not only) what is intended. The unintended results may be foreseen or unforeseen, but they should be the logical or likely results of the of tough child support laws, accompanied by strict enforcement appears to be a high correlation with a drop in births outside of marriage, two researchers at the University of Washington report, "unintended" because such laws were enacted to reduce welfare payments. The study by Robert Plotnick and Irwin Garfinkel, looked at a nationwide sample of 5,195 women of childbearing child·bear·ing n. Pregnancy and parturition. child  bear ing adj. age and at data from 1980 to 1993, but researchers said wide disparities still exist in states' child support policies. They report that only one state, New Jersey, collected at least 80 percent of owed child support; 31 states collected 41 percent to 60 percent of child support orders. Worst off was the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , which collected less than 20 percent of all child support owed. The percentage of unmarried births in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. has increased from 10 percent in the 1960s to about a third of all births currently. Lawmakers are always seeking policies that will discourage unwed births usually focusing on the mothers. |
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