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z-/ ILLEGITIMACY: TEENAGERS LARGELY ACCOUNT FOR STARTLING INCREASE The rate of illegitimate births in the United States has nearly doubled during the last decade, but the causes of this phenomenon remain elusive. Not the immediate cause, of course; but the fact that more unmarried women are having intercourse without using contraception is a correct answer without being an adequate explanation. And all other popular explanations -- such as the decline in religious or economic or social sanctions against unwed mothers or the lack of sex education in schools -- are simply inaccurate, according to Dr. Phillips Cutright, a sociologist who has spent the last five years studying the causes and cures of illegitimacy here and abroad. The facts are, he says in a report in a recent issues of Planned Parenthood’s FAMILY PLANNING PERSPECTIVES that the nation’s teenagers, who are more sexually active than ever -- and who have contributed most heavily to the rise in illegitimacy -- generally do not realize how easy it is to become pregnant, and even those who do, do not have medically-prescribed contraceptives readily available to them. Nor do most have abortion as a ready option should they find themselves pregnant out of wedlock. “For years we’ve tried to use fear of pregnancy as a deterrent to illegitimacy and it hasn’t worked. It’s time to try something else,” say Dr. Cutright, of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of M.1.T.-Harvard, and a professor of sociology at Indiana University. Carol D. is just one of thousands of American teenagers who illustrate Dr. Cutright’s findings. An intelligent girl from a religious, middleclass white home in the West, Carol became pregnant at the age of 15 following two acts of unprotected intercourse with her high school sweetheart. Asked why she had “taken a chance,” she replied: “There’s nine years difference between my brother and me. I never knew I could get pregnant so easily. 1 thought it was something you had to work on and plan.” Her attempt to get an abortion failed, and she was forced to bear her illegitimate child. Two years later -- still ill-informed about effective contraception - she became pregnant again. Just how important the teen-age contribution is to rising illegitimacy cap be seen when the statistics are broken down into age groups. From 1965 to 1968 (the latest date for which figures are available), illegitimacy rates actually declined for the first time in a quarter-century among adult American women. But this decline was offset by a tremendous increase in illegitimacy among teen-agers, who comprised about 70 per cent of the un-married population. To Dr. Cutright, the decline among the older groups reflects the growing availability of effective contraception to f adult women regardless of marital status. But to the unmarried minor, who in many cases must get parental consent to obtain medically prescribed contraceptives, (not necessary in Georgia) the pill and the IDU are just something she hears about. Dr. Cutright’s investigation has exploded many of the myths that supposedly explain rising illegitimacy, among them: 1. The increase in welfare benefits. No link was found between illegitimacy rates and the number of families receiving welfare benefits or the amount of these benefits. Illegitimacy rates rose dramatically in the early 1940’s while welfare roles declined by a third, and illegitimacy increased at about the same rate in states that pay high welfare benefits as in those that pay low benefits. The same holds true for Canada and other countries. (Maximum benefits in Georgia are $164 per month for a mother with four, five, six, seven, eight or nine plus children). 2. The decline of the authoritarian family. Families became increasingly permissive during the first 40 years of this century, while illegitimacy rates declined in nearly all developed countries. ■ 3. The lack of adequate sex education in the schools. By themselves, Dr. Cutriglit says, school programs that tell young women about contraceptive will do little to increase their use. Sweden, which adopted a national policy to provide sex and contraceptive information in schools 30 years ago, has experienced a rapid increase in illegitimacy among young women during the last decade. Dr. Cutright also predicts failure for any program that tries to teach American men to use condoms. He notes that ever since 1940 men in the U.S. Armed Forces been exposed to “the most intensive form of education in condom use one can imagine.” Yet, the illegitimacy rate continued to soar following World War II and the Korean W?r, and today at least 15 per cent of American servicemen in Vietnam have contracted venereal disease, which could have been prevented by the use of condoms. Further complicating the problem, the sociologist believes, is the fact that the growing emphasis on female contraceptive methods has made men less willing to assume responsibility for preventing pregnancy in out-of-wedlock coitus. What is the solution? Dr. Cutriglit urges the establishment of Government-financed family-planning clinics that would serve any woman who comes in, backed up by abortion on request to deal with contraceptive failures. The schools, he says, would do best to simply post the location of the nearby clinics. And without “condoning or condemning non-marital sex,” the school might also try to give teen-agers a realistic picture of the risk of pregnancy. One way to do this, he suggests, is to fill a bowl with marbles of two different colors in proportion to the risk involved and have students pick blindfolded. A young fertile woman having unprotected intercourse twice a week stands a 35 per cent chance of being pregnant at the end of the month. Dr. Cutright recalls the response of this lesson of his 10-year-old daughter who was thrilled after picking three green marbles in a row, indicating she was not pregnant. Then she drew a red one. Her face dropped and she whined painfully, “But daddy, I don’t want to be pregnant.” SAND BAR PLAZA 200 BLOCK OF SAND BAR FERRY ROAD THRIF-TEE SUPER MARKET H| GROCERIES - MEATS - BEVERAGES Sf JOHNSON'S LAUNDERMAT NEWLY OPENED - ALL MODERN EQUIPMENT ■g; ■'St BLACKMON'S BARBER SHOP ££ ‘Sx HAIRCUTS - HAIRSTYLES - BLOW-OUTS jUg J® AUGUSTA, GEORGIA FROM THE PILL BOX by Father David C. Streett bE’ I I ■ IF ‘SECURITY SAYS IT ALL.” theme of 1971 National Insurance Week. May. 10-15. sponsored by the National Insurance Association, will be broadly displayed on posters and leaflets by black-owned life insurance company representatives across the country as they increase their efforts to place economic security within the reach of all American families. Nat’l. Insurance Week Spurred by a SIOO million goal in new business to be attained during National Insurance Week, May 10-15, 1971, more than 8,000 agents of black owned and operated life insurance companies are spearheading an attack to bring black American families closer to the national average protection of $19,500 per family. In proclaiming the 37th annual observance of NI Week, sponsored by the National Insurance Association, its President, L.R. Taylor, associate actuary, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., stated, “I urge each member o 4 the insurance community to emphasize to all families the benefits of life insurance, thus affirming our dedication to the principle of economic security for all. people.” The 1971 theme, “Security Says It All,” was selected by Nl Week Chairman, Ray Irby, CLU, newly elected vice president-agency director, Supreme Life Insurance Company of America. It stresses the unique position life insurance occupies as a hedge against inflation and as a protection against the economic pangs of disease, disability, death and old age. Field representatives of the 44 member companies will spread their message through 34 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands using special promotional programs and materials and stepped-up personal contact. NIA companies, with nearly $435 million in assetsand $1.5 billion insurance in force, pay out more than SIOO million in benefits and wages every year. Traditionally, they invest an average 25 percent of total assets in mortgages in order to BE SUPER-BAD CsHpMfl Shop at JACK LEVINE’S 973 BROAD ST. (WITH THE BLACK & GOLD AWNING) SHOP WHERE THE CELEBRITIES SHOP. encourage home ownership and property improvement. Other NI Week committee members are: J.G. Cooper, USMCR, vice president-agency director, Christian Benevolent Burial Assn, of Mobile; Alonzo Gary, Jr., agency director, Dr.OlinToSpeakAt A.C The National Science Foundation and the American Anthropological Assn, has notified the Augusta College Dept, of Sociology and Anthropology it has been selected to host a Visiting Lecturer May 6-7. On campus to meet with faculty, students and members of the general public will be Dr. Michael David Olien, Dept, of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Georgia. Dr. Olin will lecture at noon May 6 in Meeting Rooms One and Two of the College Activities Center on the problems and contributions of ethnic minority groups in Latin America today. On Friday, May 7, he will address the Cultural Anthropology Class of Mrs. Ernestine Thompson at 9 a.m. in Room One, Academic 1 and at 11 a.m. Archaeology Class, Room Five, Fine Arts. All lectures are open to campus and community personnel. Dr. Olien earned the B.A. degree from Beloit College; M.A., University of North Carolina and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Oregon. Ethnology is his field of specialization and Latin America, especially Costa Rica, is his area of specialization. Os special interest to the visiting lecturer are the complex societies, ethnohistory, and the Latin American Negro, Central Life Insurance Co. of Tampa; A.Y. Miller, agency director, Golden Circle Life Insurance Co. of Brownsville, Tenn., and Lenet Smith, vice president-agency director, Majestic Life Insurance Co of New Orleans. He is the co-author of ANTHROPOLOGICA L BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ABORIGINAL PANAMA, 1965; ANTHROPOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ABORIGINAL NICARAGUA, 1965; ANTHROPOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ABORIGINAL EL SALVADOR, 1965; ANTHROPOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ABORIGINAL HONDURAS, 1966. He is the author of “Levels of Urban Relations in a Complex Society: a Costa Rican Case,” in URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY; RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES AND STRATEGIES, 1968; and THE NEGRO IN COSTA RICA; THE ROLE OF AN ETHNIC MINORITY IN A DEVELOPING SOCIETY, 1970. HOWARD S j UPHOLSTERY SHOP 1 'WA-re | its UPHOLSTERING Customer X fir FVRNTURE Saf/s/acfton A RCCONDITIONW Comes W I OVER 20 YRS * EXP I FREE ESTIMATES I HENRY HOWARD - Owner X 722-9845 j 2047 Milledgeville Rd. USRY’S SEAFOOD MARKET ‘ Eat the fish today that was sleeping in the Gulf last night 2005 OLD SAVANNAH ROAD | (North) • “AUGUSTA’S FRESHEST FISH” | Open Thurs.. Fri., & Sat 9 A.M. to 6:30 P.M. \9?abnel’s CLEANERS, Inc. DRY CLEAN VOW for SPRING! DRY CLEANING & LAUNDRY 12019 SAVANNAH RD. PHONE 798-8944 Fast Pick-Up, and Delivery v A'* Ilf' >. ’w \wF • ’ ■' r ' I Sr -? / , 4 1: wHHIiAMMW* . T'-SBRSsr- - */' - '■ -?•'*£• wwi '' -v - ■■■ ’■ ■ ■ ■■BBB WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT I GOT’ Flip Wilson, star of NBC Television Networks “The Flip Wilson Show” proudly displays the George Foster Peabody Award his comedy-variety series won. The Peabody citation termed the show “a superior hour ol television entertainment.” | Register! B And B fl MR. MERCHANT A I WE PUBLISH A 5,000 PAPERS. 1 I NATIONAL J SURVEYS SAY IT I WILL BE I ’ READ BY OVER " I 20,000 READERS. 1 | YOU COULD I A HAVE A | REACH ED I " THESE | A20.000 READERS! J IN THIS I ’ SPACE. I NEWS-REVIEW May 6, 1971, " SARAH COVENTRY Ware & show fine fashion full or part time, no investment or delivery. Phone & use of car required 722-8422 from 9 am -12 or 4 pm 6 J Advertisement j Shopping Sears ■ ■R /.V£Z ■F-® "r ■ _ *- > Vr- To Mother ’ V i with Love 2 Mother s Day is Sunday May 9th, 1971 ... 2 and selecting your “just right” gift for mother for her day can be much easier if you shop at Sears, as I've discovered. For instance, J while walking through the store. I saw many ■ wonderful gift ideas that could really make 2 her kitchen chores much, much easier. ' If mother is the type who likes to make sauces and gravies for you. then take a good J look at Sears 8-speed blender, available in ■ gold and avocado colors or white ... all popu -2 lar kitchen shades. Blenders are really handy « for making all sorts of tasty dishes, as well as ( • chopping and grating many foods that mother J is probably now doing by hand. This particular ] ■ work-saving blender has a 5-cup glass jar, i 2 which opens at both ends for easy emptying j • and cleaning. j ■ Colorful Cookware for Mom i J To make Mom’s cooking chores more light- ■ ■ hearted. Sears suggests a 12-piece set of i 2 color-clad stainless steel cookware in avo- ] » cado, poppy or lemon-yellow. She’ll enjoy < ? cooking and turning out delicious meals in | ■ these colorful utensiles that include Dutch I ■ O/ens and double broilers as well as a wide ] 2 selection of sauce pan sizes. | An Oven that Cleans Itself ’ < Another great gift idea is a gas or electric ' J stove that features the self-cleaning oven. | ■ Just imagine how happy she’d be, knowing i 2 that she'd never have to face that awful oven- | j, cleaning job again. Just set the dial and the j • oven cleans itself automatically. ' ■ I ■ End Dishwashing by Hand... i ■ Since one of the major kitchen chores for I 2 the entire family is dishwashing, why not ) 2 change that picture with a Sears Dishwasher. j These dishwashers come in a variety of styles • and colors ... some can be built into your j ■ cabinets while other styles can be moved al- i ■ most anywhere in your kitchen. They're all j 2 easy to use. In fact, you don't even need to ■ pre-rinse your dishes in order to get them to J come out sparkling clean. Some models sea- I ■ ture a forced hot-air drying system that gently i 2 dries every cup and dish. j • This year you can make Mother’s Day some ‘ thing special by giving her a Sears kitchen J appliance that she'll enjoy the year ’round. It’s ■ one of the best ways to let Mom know that you 2 want every day to have a touch of Mother’s • Day thoughtfulness. J SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. ■ Page 5