He had stated in a family-values speech in the run-up to the year's presidential election: "Bearing babies irresponsibly is simply wrong. Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong and we must be unequivocal about this. It doesn't help matters when prime-time TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice" (Speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, May 19, 1992).

Quayle's contention that single parenthood should be discouraged mushroomed into a significant campaign controversy. But 20 years on, his speech seems prophetic. Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution, wrote recently in The Washington Post: "The number of single parents in America has increased dramatically: The proportion of children born outside marriage has risen from roughly 30 percent in 1992 to 41 percent in 2009. For women under 30, more than half of babies are born out of wedlock. A lifestyle once associated with poverty has become mainstream" ("20 Years Later, It Turns Out Dan Quayle Was Right About Murphy Brown and Unmarried Moms," May 25, 2012).

Sawhill goes on to show that traditional marriage is very good for children in a number of ways. And her research showed that "if individuals do just three things—finish high school, work full time and marry before they have children—their chances of being poor drop from 15 percent to 2 percent."

She concludes: "But in the end, Dan Quayle was right. Unless the media, parents and other influential leaders celebrate marriage as the best environment for raising children, the new trend—bringing up baby alone—may be irreversible."

Those behind The Good News magazine seek to promote strong marriages and families. Our free Bible study aid booklets Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension and Making Life Work highlight biblical practices that result in happy marriages, responsible children and sound family finances. Request or download a free copy of each. (Source: The Washington Post.)