Smoking babies

Ann Coulter fisks the New York Times:

Thus, the Times writes warmly of single mothers, always including an innocent explanation: "Many of these women followed a similar and familiar pattern in having their first child: They planned to marry, found they hadn't by their 30s, looked some more and then decided to have a child without a husband." At which point, a stork showed up with their babies.
So apparently, single motherhood could happen to anyone!
How about: These smokers followed a similar and familiar pattern, they planned never to start smoking, found themselves working long nights at the law firm and then decided to have a cigarette to stay alert.

(H/T: James Bates.) Pregnancy is not a random accident. The demographic distribution of the phenomenon follows discernible patterns. The key to understanding the NYTimes approach is to think of the Times writer as standing six inches from a Seurat painting, looking at the dabs of paint, afraid to stand back and describe the overall pattern.