Do we Americans live in a better world than existed in 1959? I mean beyond the obvious improvements in technology we enjoy. Are human beings more fulfilled and happy now? What effect has the disintegration of the family had on our psyches? Let’s take a look at three statistics and what they might mean.

It is well-known that 55 million babies have been killed in the womb since 1973. That is certainly a feature of life today that was virtually non-existent in 1959. Not only that, but I would say the Americans of 1959 would not have believed this would happen if we had told them at the time.

Children born to unmarried mothers represented only 4% of live births 50 years ago. Today that number is 34%. It doesn’t seem to me that the younger generation is the least bit surprised, disturbed or opposed to this trend. But what does it mean to the future of our country—or the human race for that matter? Is it a good thing?

Fifty years ago 14% of marriages ended in divorce and today that number is 50%. My own parents divorced when I was but an infant. However, all of my aunts and uncles have been married more than 50 years. How does this affect us as people, this seismic shift in relations between men and women? Was the stability that has been lost not worth the trouble? How does this affect the children and grandchildren of all these fractured homes?