GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul suggests cutting government benefits for unwed mothers who have multiple children, saying “maybe we have to say enough’s enough, you shouldn’t be having kids after a certain point.” He ‘clarified’ the comments, saying “It’s not that I’m against children – I come from a large family.””In the right context, it can lead to a great life, but in the wrong context, it really can be a burden for those who aren’t yet married,” CNN reports.

Sen. Paul, who resurrected Monica Lewinsky as a way of diminishing Hillary Clinton’s possible 2016 presidential run, made the comments about unwed mothers during a luncheon on Lexington, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, in response to a question about workforce development.

Paul told the audience that being “married with kids versus unmarried with kids is the difference between living in poverty and not.”

“We should sell that message,” Paul said. “Not in a mean way to tell people who already have made a bad decision, but if you’ve had one child and you’re not married, you shouldn’t have another one.”

Speaking about high school students, Paul warned that “if you have children before you are married, the poverty rate is just astronomical.”

“We need to be telling kids ‘don’t have kids until you’re married,'” Paul said. “It’s your best chance to get in the middle class is not to have kids. There’s all kinds of ways, and we can debate … but there are all kinds of ways to stop having kids.”

He continued: “You know, but we have to teach our kids that. But some of that’s sort of some tough love too. Maybe we have to say ‘enough’s enough, you shouldn’t be having kids after a certain amount.’ I don’t know how you do all that because then it’s tough to tell a woman with four kids that she’s got a fifth kid we’re not going to give her any more money. But we have to figure out how to get that message through because that is part of the answer. Some of that’s not coming from government. It needs to come from ministers and people in the community and parents and grandparents to convince our kids to do something different.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 30.9 percent of families led by a single mom were living in poverty in 2012, compared to 6.3 percent of families led by a married couple and 16.4 percent of families led by a single father. Source:  Lexington Herald-Leader

Paul didn’t directly endorse the suggestion of cutting government benefits for unwed mothers, but admitted that it may be unpopular and difficult to implement. Um, then why say it?

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.