This is the second in a series of three reports focusing on the fertility and childbearing patterns of women participating in various government welfare programs. In summer 1993, there were 36 million mothers of childbearing ages (15 to 44 years old) living in the United States; 5.3 million of them (15 percent) were receiving food stamps to help them purchase food to provide a nutritionally adequate diet for their 13.7 million children.