The Glamorization
of Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy
By Katharine DeBrecht
Does anyone see the
dichotomy of Angelina and Brad going to Africa,
a country that is plagued with aids, famine and
out-of-wedlock pregnancy, to demonstrate that it
is perfectly acceptable and even glamorous to have
a baby outside of the context of marriage? Angelina
and Brad, under the guise of “helping Africans”,
are justifying, by example, to Africans one of the
very problems that plague that nation.
Contrary to what Jolie is inadvertently or overtly
portraying to young Africans, abstinence works and
Uganda is a perfect example. In the early1980’s
Uganda suffered from an AIDS epidemic. The government
of Uganda responded by an all out ABC plan –
Abstinence, Be Faithful (Monogamy), Condoms (as
a last resort). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s cases
of HIV decreased dramatically, and from 1991 to
2000 decreased from 21 percent to 6 percent. A 2004
Science study found that abstinence and monogamy,
not condom use, contributed to the decline of HIV
cases in Uganda, according to a 2004 Science study.
Adolescent births comprise of 15-20 percent of births
in 11 countries in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has
the highest levels of early childbearing in the
world. Although traditional rural Africa had always
promoted child-bearing as a rite of passage within
the constraints of marriage or consensual union
where information such as teachings of family life
and child spacing were passed on from generation
to generation, rapid urbanization and peer and modern
influences have diminished this tradition with lack
of support for marriage or the young mother. If
you think it is hard to be a single mother in America,
imagine the life of the single mother in Africa.PubMed,
a service of The National Library of Medicine and
the National Institute of Health, reports: “High
rates of premarital sexual activity have caused
notable changes in the incidence of out-of-wedlock
pregnancies in much of the developing world. In
Africa, local policy makers are beginning to perceive
the medical implications of these changes as the
youth component of illicit abortion, maternal mortality,
and sexually transmitted disease becomes more visible.
Other social issues, which include school leaving,
unemployment, violence and drug abuse, are emerging
among the young people of Africa as elsewhere.”
It is indisputable that abstinence is the only true
prevention of AIDS. What message does Jolie bring
to Africa and her fans all over the world when commenting,
“I need more sex. Before I die I wanna taste
everyone in the world.” Jolie is hardly the
poster child for abstinence who stated about her
lesbian affairs, “They're right to think that
about me, because I'm the person most likely to
sleep with my female fans, I genuinely love other
women. And I think they know that.”
Let’s take this out of Africa and to the US.
According to The Family Research Council: “Unwed
mothers and fathers are less likely to marry and
more likely to suffer from depression and to live
in poverty than are those who do not have children
outside of marriage. Children born to teen mothers
are more likely than other children to have lower
grades, to drop out of high school, to be abused
or neglected, to have a child as an unmarried teenager,
and to be delinquent. Teen childbearing costs US
taxpayers an estimated $7 billion each year for
increased welfare, food stamps, medical care, incarceration
and foster care costs, as well as lost tax revenue
due to government dependency. The gross annual cost
to society of unwed childbearing and its negative
consequences is $29 billion, which includes the
administration of welfare and foster care programs,
the building and maintenance of additional prisons,
as well as lower education and reduced productivity
among unwed parents.”
What new “social change” which Hollywood
overtly seeks, are these celebrities now promoting?
One-third of births in the United States are out
of wedlock. Among women under age 20, 70 percent
of all births are to single mothers.
Let us review. Brad Pitt commits adultery, but that’s
OK because he is a celebrity. Angelina and Brad
lie about their affair but that’s OK too.
Angelina and Brad consummate an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
Angelina announces to the world that she has no
plans to wed Brad Pitt. Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt
is born and celebrated as the wonderful product
of this celebrity union Jolie was never portrayed
as a home wrecker, perhaps because of her work in
Africa as a Goodwill Ambassador.
Heck, Kenneth Lay of Enron did charity work. Jolie
was appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the UN. Chris
Janowski, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, said Jolie “can naturally bring
in our message to youth.” But what type of
message is a woman, who has an affair with a married
man, has a child out of wedlock and yet is received
like royalty in Namibia, portraying to a continent
that is ridden with AIDS and poverty?
We have seen the consequences of infidelity and
divorce on the family and children. Children raised
in a single-parent home are more likely to live
in poverty, engage in premarital sex, develop substance
abuse problems, perform poorly in school and commit
suicide. Sixty percent of inmates in US jails were
raised by a single parent. Knowing that children
of single parents are at a higher risk for failure,
why is Hollywood glorifying single parenthood?
So where is the outrage with the latest antics of
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Why do we glorify
an unmarried couple having a child out of wedlock,
who barely seem fit as parents?”
Will the Hollywood Idology indoctrination continue
to shape us, or will we stand up for the values
that protect children within a context of a family?
(Katharine DeBrecht
is an author of conservative children's books and
a mother of three. Her first book, “Help!
Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!” hit
#1 on the Barnes & Noble website in September
2005 and was profiled by the Wall Street Journal,
Publishers Weekly, and other publications. A graduate
of Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, DeBrecht
served as co-captain of "Security Moms for
Bush" for South Carolina, where she resides
with her husband and children. Her latest book is
titled “Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper!”)
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