As the U.S. becomes a more difficult place to raise a family, it should come as no surprise that more Americans prefer childlessness. While it is true that a rising percentage of the population choosing not to have children may create problems for the country down the line, politicians will never be able to bully or badger Americans into having kids.
Almost half of adults under 50 have no plans for child rearing
The U.S. fertility rate reached a historic low in 2023, with just under 3.6 million babies born. Americans are having fewer children, and the evidence points to them continuing the trend in the years ahead.
Reproductive issues are widely discussed and loudly argued over. Conversely, how Americans actually feel about child rearing receives almost no attention, which is a big mistake. According to new Pew Research data, the share of Americans aged 18 to 49 who say they don’t want kids is now 47%, up from 37% in 2018.
Why the shift? Adults in the survey group voiced several reasons. “I just don’t want kids,” said 57% of respondents. But then the researchers dug a little deeper:
• 38% of respondents said they’re unlikely to have children because they’re concerned about the state of the world.
• 36% said they can’t afford child rearing in an economy that increasingly demands two-income households.
• 26% voiced concerns about whether the environment can sustain successive generations.
• 18% suggested their negative childhood experiences make them averse to childrearing.
• 13% pointed to medical issues that would complicate or prevent pregnancy.
The most obvious conclusion is a common sense one. In a country founded on liberty and the freedom to make whatever decisions one wants, Americans in 2024 are assessing the grim landscape that’s been laid before them, and they’re simply choosing not to have children.
Can anyone really blame them?
Replacement-level fertility won’t be achieved with right-wing policies
Though not guaranteed, a declining fertility rate can have negative economic and social outcomes. Fewer babies born in each successive generation may lead to a shrinking labor force and lower tax revenue, both of which can strain the programs needed to support larger, older generations.
In Tennessee and beyond, Republican solutions to declining fertility are entirely coercive. Compel women to get pregnant by restricting access to sex education, then force them to carry unwanted pregnancies to term by banning abortion. And don’t forget to flirt with ideas about blocking access to contraception and removing no-fault divorce, just for good measure.
Virtually no one wants right-wing authoritarianism as a solution to declining fertility. Approximately 84% of parents support sex education being taught in middle school; 96% support it in high school. About 63% of Americans want abortion to be legal in all or most cases, and the pro-choice position won in seven out of seven states in recent ballot proposals. Between 70% and 90% of Americans support access to contraception, and 73% say divorce is morally acceptable (up 14% from 2001).
Not only are Republican solutions to declining fertility unpopular, they also don’t work. Since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the birth rate has declined and the abortion rate has risen.
What does effective policy making look like?
“How can we get the fertility rate up?” Americans ask with legitimate concerns about an aging population and a diminishing workforce. With the enthusiasm of a car salesman who slaps the hood of an automobile, Republicans answer, “We’ll do you one better. We’ll get the fertility rate back up, ban abortion, and put women in the home where they belong!”
Putting aside the right’s adherence to its patriarchal agenda, there are effective policies to support child rearing, though Republicans rarely advance them. According to the Lancet, several countries have implemented programs that increase fertility and grow families. Not surprisingly, such policies happen to address many of the concerns Americans voiced in the Pew survey cited earlier. Some examples include:
• Mandating flexible employment hours conducive to childrearing
• Providing tax breaks, incentives, and financial subsidies for families
• Implementing paid leave policies so parents can spend time with their newborns
• Supporting families via affordable housing, single-payer healthcare, and universal childcare
What’s at stake in November?
Following through on his most ardent 2016 campaign promise, former President Donald Trump used his first term to appoint the Supreme Court justices needed to overturn Roe. Today, he would not be the Republican presidential nominee if the evangelical groups that guaranteed his victory in 2016 didn’t think he would support their ongoing anti-abortion crusade.
As for Trump’s running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance has leaned into cultural browbeating. He’s repeatedly said people without children don’t have what it takes to lead the country, even though several U.S. presidents had no children, including two Tennesseans, Andrew Jackson and James Polk.
On the state level, Republicans have set the policy landscape so that not only does Tennessee not have a replacement-level fertility rate, but we’re third in the nation in maternal mortality and seventh in fetal mortality. As for the children who are born here, Tennessee has the tenth-highest child poverty rate at just over 20%.
Tennessee Republicans and their federal counterparts have offered no substantive policy propositions to make raising healthy, happy children easier for Americans. And even if they did, there’s nothing wrong with choosing not to have kids.
What’s important is that Americans are supported by their elected representatives in whatever family planning choices they make. Governments that implement policies to support the liberty and free decisions of their citizens will always produce healthier societies than those where a powerful minority uses bans on basic freedoms, discriminatory mechanisms, legislative coercion, and cultural browbeating to control everyone’s lives.
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Ren Brabenec is a Nashville-based freelance writer and journalist. He reports on politics, local issues, environmental stories, foreign policy, and the economy.
This article in this post was originally published on Tennessee Lookout and parts of it are included here under a Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 4.0
