This letter in today’s Montreal Gazette lays bare what standards society has set for raising a family:

The crux of the problem is that young mothers do not have a choice [to stay home with their children] any more. Most must return to work for financial reasons and place their children in care settings.
Our very consumerist, materialistic world emphasizes paid work as a means of delivering the good life – bigger houses, bigger cars, every imaginable gadget.
Our children quickly learn the importance that they hold in their very busy parents’ lives.

Imagine what an unexpected pregnancy’s prospects are in such a setting? Oh, wait, no need to imagine. We’re living it.