Policies designed to promote and strengthen marriage are gaining currency at all levels of government, and a key goal of many of these initiatives is to reduce out-of-wedlock childbearing. By focusing exclusively on nonmarital births, however, these efforts ignore that married people also face considerable difficulties planning their families. Given the large numbers of married couples who experience an unintended pregnancy and either an abortion or an unintended birth, emphasis in “”marriage promotion”” policies and programs should be placed on ensuring that married couples and couples contemplating marriage have the counseling and education they need to help them avoid these stressful events. (Author abstract)