THIS WEEK IN 1994: '˜Dramatic' rise in unmarried mothers

Eileen Jones, the joint co-ordinator of Portsmouth Area Family Concern, spoke after figures showed one in three births were outside wedlock.

Also, 90 per cent of pregnant teenage girls were unmarried.

A report from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys showed a continuing ‘dramatic’ trend in which 44 per cent of conceptions were by single women – in 1981 it was 29 per cent.

The proportion of single pregnant women who married before their baby was born had halved over the same period.

Mrs Jones said: ‘Sex education has not given children any moral framework.

‘It just says “do it when you want to”.’