Throughout history, unmarried women who gave birth to illegitimate children were shunned or scorned by society. While drastic changes regarding society’s view of unmarried mothers have occurred within the last few decades, there is still a social stigma surrounding unwed mothers.

Regardless of the fact that it has been looked down on, unmarried women have been having illegitimate children throughout history. Roughly 3 percent of unmarried women gave birth to illegitimate children in the 1700s. In Iceland in the mid-1800s, 14 percent of children were born to unmarried mothers. In Europe, about 7 percent of births were to unmarried mothers. Legitimacy rates of children increased following the previous rise of illegitimate children. 

Historically, the pregnancy-legitimacy rate was said to decrease during the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s because of increased sexual activity. The rise of the legitimacy rate that followed was attributed to an increase in birth control use. Unmarried women who were having sexual intercourse had a way to avoid pregnancy, although the birth control did not always work. The social shame would often cause the unmarried mothers to give their children up for adoption.

Giving up a child for adoption was often preferable to raising the child in poverty. Since the process of an abortion could easily kill a woman, options were limited if one got pregnant. If the unmarried mother had a married aunt, cousin or sister, then it was common for the married relative to have taken on the responsibility of raising the child so that others would not know that the child lacked legitimacy.

Depending on the area, the unmarried woman may have had the chance to give her child legitimacy by marrying the father of the baby within a certain amount of time.

Unmarried mothers have been ridiculed by society through the years. Children who did not possess legitimacy were not given the same rights as legitimate children. By the late 20th Century, former state laws that did not allow any illegitimate children to inherit property were thrown out.

The prejudice against illegitimate children was determined to be unconstitutional and a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution due to the lack of equal protection granted to illegitimate children.testing is the only way to overturn cases of paternity fraud.

While the percentage of legitimacy in children has varied throughout the years, recent years have shown a steady increase in the number of unwed mothers in the United States.

While reasons vary for the illegitimacy of the children they are having, it is evident that despite the many birth control options available, women are more likely now to have a child without a husband. Some of these illegitimate pregnancies are planned and some are not, but unwed mothers gave birth to 40 percent of the babies delivered in the United States in 2007.

Statistics show that many couples are waiting longer to get married or skipping marriage all together. Women also have increased financial independence, making them more able to afford a child on their own than ever before in the past. Fewer women give any thought to the legitimacy of their child as they become older and decide they want children, whether the woman is married or not.

Illegitimacy numbers increased dramatically between 2002 and 2007. In 2002, roughly 1.4 million babies were born to unwed mothers. In 2007, that number jumped to 1.7 million. By 2012, that number is expected to exceed 2.4 million.

While all races have seen a jump in the number of women who have children outside of marriage, certain ethnic groups have seen a larger increase of births outside of wedlock than others. Hispanic and black women have had the most dramatic rise in numbers.

Legitimacy decreased the most among births by Hispanic women. Out of every one thousand Hispanic births, 100 were illegitimate. Black women accounted for about 70 illegitimate births out of every 1000 births. Roughly 30 out of every 1000 births by white women were illegitimate.

While many unwed mothers live with boyfriends or the child’s father instead of marrying him, there are many that are single mothers. Legitimacy factor aside, the 2000 Census reported that there are at least ten million single mothers in the United States.

Whether this is a result of divorce or from never marrying cannot be determined from the Census data. Although a stereotype, it is true that many unwed mothers’ pregnancies, nearly 80 percent, were unplanned.