Non-marital pregnancy in Australia

Abstract

Until recently, the two principal components of nonmarital pregnancy - ex-nuptial fertility and bridal pregnancy - have been studied independently. Because both elements are due to conceptions outside marriage, they have been examined together in this study. The study of non-marital pregnancy as such is relatively new, and it has been necessary to develop measures of its occurrence which are appropriate to the available data. As well as yielding a different way of measuring the phenomena, the methods developed here also imply a somewhat different perspective on them, which is more directly related to the occurrence of marriage, and hence to family formation. Thus, in the first forty years for which data in Australia are available (1891-1930), it emerges that non-marital pregnancy remained steady while ex-nuptial fertility declined. The need for explanation shifts from explaining declining ex-nuptial fertility to explaining why increased proportions of non-maritally pregnant women married while pregnant. For more recent periods, the approach adopted casts light on non-marital pregnancy among migrants and other groups (such as women classified by educational attainments), and on the onset of effective contraceptive techniques by unmarried women. During the 1970s fertility controls, by now including abortion, dramatically reduced levels of non-marital pregnancy. Levels of bridal pregnancy were affected more than was exnuptial fertility, especially among younger women, and there are signs that post-natal legitimation may be declining. The implication - that non-marital family formation is currently increasing - is explored but cannot be adequately examined using existing materials.