Jeb Bush Said Single Mothers Should be Shamed-Reported as Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
A report that Jeb Bush wrote that single mothers should be shamed to cut down on the number of children who are born out of wedlock has gone viral.
The Truth:
Jeb Bush didn’t directly say that single mothers and fathers should be shamed, but he implied support for that in his 1996 book “Profiles in Character.”
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and a 2016 presidential candidate, wrote that “public condemnation” of out-of-wedlock births used to make men and women more careful to avoid it. The Huffington Post dug up an excerpt from a chapter called “The Restoration of Shame:”
“One of the reasons more young women are giving birth out of wedlock and more young men are walking away from their paternal obligations is that there is no longer a stigma attached to this behavior, no reason to feel shame. Many of these young women and young men look around and see their friends engaged in the same irresponsible conduct. Their parents and neighbors have become ineffective at attaching some sense of ridicule to this behavior. There was a time when neighbors and communities would frown on out of wedlock births and when public condemnation was enough of a stimulus for one to be careful.”
Jeb Bush says that not “attaching some sense of ridicule” to out-of-wedlock births has led to more of them, which implies his support for it.
But during a campaign stop in Iowa, Bush denied that he supported single mothers being shamed:
“I’m not in favor of shaming women. What I’m in favor of is shaming men who abandon their children. Women who bring up children by themselves do it heroically, they do it against all odds. Men who don’t feel responsible for being part of their child’s life create real strains on that family.”
But Jeb Bush’s original comments were directed toward single mothers and single fathers. He didn’t make it clear that only single fathers should be shamed for out-of-wedlock births at the time. That’s why we’re reporting this one as truth.