ABSTRACT
Abortion and marriage are the most common solutions to the problem of illegitimate pregnancy among white women. Illegitimacy is more common among Negro women not only because premarital sexual experience and therefore pregnancy are more common, but also because abortion is so much less common a solution to the problem of pregnancy. The definition of illegitimacy as a social problem, a social problem with sources usually traced to sexual behavior, is something of a political act. Unwed mothers are widely held to suffer from their stigmatizing situation, a situation with ramifications for mother and child. Currently the only service available to unwed mothers is minimal financial assistance through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. For the girl or woman who cannot solve the double problem of support and child care in other, and perhaps undependable, ways, the decision to employ this solution is essentially a decision to become or remain very poor.
