Of all births in America in 2007, 39.7 percent took place out of wedlock according to a study published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Teenage birthrates (for those ages 15 to 19) rose by 1 percent to 42.5 births per 1,000, up from 41.9 per 1,000 in 2006 and 40.5 per 1,000 in 2005.

Births to unmarried women have risen even faster—by over 26 percent since 2002, and 4 percent from 2006 to 2007. Three quarters of unmarried women giving birth are over the age of 20.

This shows that many mature-age individuals are simply choosing not to get married. Pregnancy out of wedlock used to be viewed as shameful. Today there is no stigma.

Many simply see no purpose in marriage. To them, a marriage certificate is simply the first step toward divorce.

The reality is that marriage remains the most stabilizing social force in existence. Studies show that married families are far more likely to stay together than unmarried households. Emily Yoffe wrote in Slate magazine last year:

For 10 years, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study at Princeton University has followed the families of 5,000 children, three quarters born to unwed parents. According to the research, most of these parents, both women and men, said they wanted to get married—and to each other. But they somehow feel this mutual decision is beyond their power to make. And by not making it, the forces of inertia start pulling them apart. Five years after their children’s births, only 16 percent of the couples had married, and 60 percent had split.

Numerous studies over the years clearly show that for a child to have the best chance of success in life, he or she needs a stable home life, with two married, committed parents. The results of children being raised by single parents or unmarried partners abound: Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, approximately two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents. Even among those couples who do stay together, studies show that the benefits to children whose parents are married are far greater than for children whose parents simply cohabit. A 2007 study conducted in Britain, for example, found children living with married parents are more likely to do better at school and have a lower risk of developing a serious illness than those whose parents live together but are not married.

Beyond the physical, emotional and societal benefits, marriage serves a transcendent purpose that far too few understand. It was designed by God, along with sex, to prepare us to fulfill our incredible human potential. Read Why Marriage! Soon Obsolete? and The Missing Dimension in Sex for the inspiring spiritual reasons for marriage and family.