I agree completely with you.Children are innocent,and come into this world at the mercy of adults.*

Illegitimate is a child born out of wedlock and nothign to do with how many parents a child has. So to randomly call single parent children illegitimate is wrong and shows the ignorance of the person doing so.

"In 16 states there are statutes stigmatizing children born to unmarried parents by labeling the offspring as "bastards" or "illegitimate" children. In 36 states, it is the judges who brand these children as "illegitimate." The American Association for Single People believes that every child is legitimate. Judicial and legislative name calling is unconstitutional and must cease. AASP has launched a national campaign to stop the stigma imposed by law on children born to unmarried parents. The purpose of our educational campaign is simple: stop the name calling. Lawmakers should remove the term "bastard" from statutes. Legislators and judges should replace "illegitimate child" with more appropriate terminology, such as "child born to unmarried parents" or "nonmarital child." " "Letter from Rep. Elaine Fuller, Maine House of Representatives On April 25, 2001, Rep. Elaine Fuller wrote the following letter to AASP. I received your information last week about stigmatizing children in our state statutes. I agree with your concern, and to that end, I have a bill in this session of the Maine Legislature to remove the words "bastard" and "illegitimate child" from our state statutes. The bill is L.D. 1136 -- An Act to Treat All Children with Dignity. You can access a copy of the bill on the Internet through our Main Legislature website. The Judiciary Committee heard the bill and no one had a problem about removing the term "bastard" from the statutes. However, questions were raised about "illegitimate child" in that different scenarios were presented about what is an "illegitimate child." The term had been changed to "born to an unwed mother," but it was pointed out that the mother might be married, but not to the father of the child. There were also a number of places in the statutes, particularly related to child support, where the term was used and the committee could not come up with a term that responded to people's concerns. Therefore, this time around, "bastard" is being removed but "illegitimate child" remains. Maybe we can come up with a better solution in another session. Reply of AASP Executive Director Removing the term "bastard" is certainly an improvement. However, it seems to me that "illegitimate child" could easily be replaced with a more appropriate term. The codes, including those dealing with child support, could refer to "nonmarital child" rather than "illegitimate child." The term "nonmarital child" could be defined as "the offspring of a man and a woman who are not married to each other." Rep. Fuller should be commended for her leadership for introducing this bill. Now all it will take is a little more leadership, with a simple amendment such as that referred to above, and the entire problem could be corrected in the next legislative session." Source and further information: http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/members/newsletters/June2001/stopthestigma.htm

I thought as a culture we were past caring about BS like this.

I agree with you, but I don't think that term is used that much any longer.

That's really an archaic and insulting term that should no longer be used, anywhere on Planet Earth. It's equivalent to calling a black person the "N" word. People only utter it when they are trying to justify their OWN existence. +5

You know, I think it's just silly to use these terms anymore - but I believe that it's SUPPOSED to be used to describe a child concieved in illigitimate situations, such as out of wedlock. What's worse that "illigitimate," in my opinion, is when someone feels it is okay to call the child concieved 'illigitimately' a bastard. That's what's crazier....

Totally agree! its horrible to class a child for something that isnt their fault. In Ireland illegitimate childern were second class citizens until the law was changed in like the 70s I think. It was really unfair!!

I do. No child should start out with such a label (or any label, for that matter). I think it is stupid, judgmental and very small minded.

well my mum was offended during a court case over child support when the judge referred to my 2 year old brother as a bastard!!!! and it isn't anything to do with being a single parent the term bastard and illigitimate refer to a child that has been born out of wedlock. I jokingly say to my partner sometimes "look, just because you're a bastard, doesn't mean you have to act like one!" he finds it hillarious.