Democratic Rep Suggests Traditional Families Are ‘Un-American’

Democratic South Dakota state Rep. Erin Healy suggested that idealizing the traditional two-parent married household is “dangerous” and “un-American” in a Monday tweet.

Healy was rebuking Family Heritage Alliance’s claim that a home with a married mother and father was the safest place for a child. Critics came to the group’s defense, with some pointing to data supporting the claim that married biological parents are the safest adults for children to live with.

“Extremist group Family Heritage Alliance said this morning that the safest place for kids are in families that have a married mom and dad. What a dangerous and un-American belief,” Healy wrote. It’s unclear what specific comments Healy was referring to, as her office and Family Heritage Alliance did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

Children living with their married biological parents experience the lowest rates of maltreatment, according to a 2010 study by the Department of Health and Human Services. Children whose single parent had a live-in partner saw more than 10 times the rate of abuse and nearly eight times the rate of neglect compared to children living with their married biological parents. 

Further, children whose single parents had a live-in partner saw the highest rates of physical and sexual abuse compared to children in other living situations, according to the study; 15.4 out of 1,000 of this group experienced physical abuse and 12.1 of 1,000 experienced sexual abuse, compared to 2.5 and 0.7 out of 1,000 respectively for children with married biological parents.

“Actually, when it comes to abuse, the safest place for kids is an intact, biological married family. See, e.g., this federal report on child abuse and neglect,” Brad Wilcox, director of the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project, wrote.

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