By way of background, nearly 200 years ago, the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville is said to have observed that `America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good,

America will cease to be great.' Although de Tocqueville is long gone, his analysis is timeless. It is impossible to be a public official today, to travel throughout States such as Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the United States, without recognizing that America's problems are more moral than material. The news media offer us a monthly snapshot of leading economic indicators, but it may be that our leading moral indicators are more telling, such as the staggering number of teenage pregnancies, the national divorce rate, and the rapid rise in juvenile crime.

As we have tried to steer towards a growing economy and a balanced budget, there has been a growing consensus that all our goals--personal, economic, and national security--must rest on a restored ethic of personal responsibility. There has been an increased recognition that a crisis of values underlies the many public policy problems the Senate addresses on a daily basis. This has impressed upon me the need for people of strong moral commitments to enter public service and public debate, so that we may confront the underlying problems.

On the critical question of the health of America's families, the grim statistics are well known, but worth repeating. These leading moral indicators suggest that the erosion of the American family continues unabated. For example, more than 50 percent of American marriages now end in divorce, meaning that millions of American children face at least some instability in their home environment. Then, there is the alarming number of teenagers getting pregnant in the United States. According to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control in 1995, there were an estimated 835,000 teenage pregnancies in 1990. Further, the National Center for Health Statistics reports that in 1993, 12,000 girls under 15 years of age gave birth to a child. To me, this necessitates a strong response from public officials, the clergy, and concerned citizens.

A leading moral indicator is the rapid increase in the number of unwed mothers. The percentage of teen births that occurred outside of marriage has risen from 48 percent in 1980 to 72 percent of all teenage births in 1993. According to my distinguished colleague, Senator Moynihan, within 10 years, unless we reverse current trends, more than half our children will be born to unmarried women. By comparison, the United States teenage birth rate--60 births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19--is double the rate in other industrialized societies such as Australia and the United Kingdom. France and Japan report some of the lowest teenage birth rates, at nine and four births per 1,000 females, respectively.

It is worth pausing to reflect on the enormous significance of these statistics regarding out-of-wedlock births. Marriage is obviously important as it relates to the benefits for children to have a strong family structure based on a commitment of mutual support and respect.

On the subject of family values, I speak with considerable pride about the institution of marriage with my parents and my siblings. In addition to my parents' marriage of 45 years, my brother, Morton, and his wife, Joyce, were married for 51 years until his death in 1993. My sister, Hilda, and her husband, Arthur Morgenstern, celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary in April. My sister, Shirley, was married to Edward Kety for 46 years until his death last summer. My son, Shanin, and his wife, Tracey, will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on June 29, 1996. So our family totals 248 years of marriage.

In considering the troubling statistics on out-of-wedlock births, I believe there is much we can do to reduce the likelihood that an unmarried teenager will become pregnant in the first place.