{"id":2432792,"date":"2025-05-09T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-fertility-crisis-isnt-just-having-fewer-kids\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T08:08:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T12:08:59","slug":"the-fertility-crisis-isnt-just-having-fewer-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-fertility-crisis-isnt-just-having-fewer-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fertility Crisis Isn&#8217;t Just Having Fewer Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-fertility-crisis-isnt-just-having-fewer-kids%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2432792&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The author reflects on their mixed feelings about Mother&#8217;s Day as a mother of eight, expressing both joy and sadness. They note the increasing trend of childlessness among women in the U.S., highlighting that the country may soon lead the world in this demographic issue.Despite having a fulfilling life filled with love and challenges, the author is concerned about the societal implications of fewer women becoming mothers.<\/p>\n<p>They criticize current pro-natalist efforts that focus more on encouraging existing mothers to have more children, rather than addressing the root cause\u2014an increasing number of women choosing not to become mothers at all. Many childless women desire children but face barriers such as marital status and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/californias-high-speed-rail-is-a-boondoggle-with-inflated-jobs-numbers-regional-paper-says\/\" title=\"California\u2019s High-Speed Rail Is A Boondoggle With Inflated Jobs Numbers, Regional Paper Says\">financial constraints<\/a>.The author argues that boosting stable marriages and promoting a culture that values motherhood could lead to more women embracing parenthood. <\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, they call for a societal shift towards celebrating family and motherhood, linking it to individual happiness.The piece ends with a plea for honoring mothers and fostering a positive surroundings for family formation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>As a mother of eight, I approach every Mother&rsquo;s Day with mixed feelings. I look forward to the burned French toast, illegible handmade cards, and sweet (if clumsy) gestures from my children. But I also feel sadness. As a 40-something mom of a large, happy family, I am an endangered species. The United States is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/1-in-4-projecting-childlessness-among-todays-young-women\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on track<\/a>&nbsp;to surpass Switzerland as the global leader in childless women in their 40s.<\/p>\n<p>I have a great life. I&rsquo;m never bored. I&rsquo;m constantly challenged to give more of myself, and I receive more love than I ever imagined when I was still single. Married mothers report the happiest, least lonely, most meaningful lives in our age group. In fact, 80 percent of mothers say they are &ldquo;happy with our lives,&rdquo; compared with just 68 percent of childless women.<\/p>\n<p>I don&rsquo;t say this to brag (most days I still wonder how I got this lucky). I say it because I want to build a society where women are happier and more fulfilled &mdash; and all the signs suggest that to get there, we need more married mothers.<\/p>\n<h2>The Real Fertility Gap<\/h2>\n<p>Even the corporate media has started to admit that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-seen-crying-during-dnc-walkout-as-kamala-harris-will-soon-replace-him-shes-tough\/\" title=\"Biden Seen Crying During DNC Walkout as Kamala Harris Will Soon Replace Him - &#039;She&#039;s Tough&#039;\">women aren&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t having the children they&nbsp;<em>want<\/em>. A pro-natalist movement has gone viral (and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/tags\/453211572\/birth-rate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lives rent-free<\/a>&nbsp;in the NPR editors&rsquo; heads) thanks to voices like Elon Musk and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/article\/2024\/may\/25\/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cringey-but-earnest<\/a>&nbsp;influencers like the &ldquo;techno puritan&rdquo; Collins family.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump coalition, big-tent as ever, has opened a path for both secular birthrate alarmists and religious (mostly Catholic) voices to find common ground. In late April,&nbsp;The New York Times&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/21\/us\/politics\/trump-birthrate-proposals.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">profiled<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/safeguarding-american-exceptionalism-is-the-way-to-a-better-world\/\" title=\"Safeguarding American Exceptionalism Is The Way To A Better ...\">policy ideas<\/a> from the natalist camp: a $5,000 &ldquo;baby bonus,&rdquo; menstrual health education, and a &ldquo;National Medal of Motherhood&rdquo; (thanks again, Collins family) for women with six or more kids.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, every government-led effort to reverse the baby bust through payouts, tax cuts, and or other incentives&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/birthrate-children-fertility-europe-perks-family-04aa13a0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Most <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >pro-natalist ideas focus<\/a> on encouraging women who are&nbsp;<em>already mothers<\/em>&nbsp;to have&nbsp;<em>more<\/em>&nbsp;children. Demographer Lyman Stone&rsquo;s 2022 analysis&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/1-in-4-projecting-childlessness-among-todays-young-women\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shows<\/a>&nbsp;that&rsquo;s not where the problem lies. A married mom of one is likely to have a second. A mom of four today is&nbsp;<em>just<\/em>&nbsp;as likely to have a fifth as her grandmother was in 1958.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s not mothers who&rsquo;ve changed &mdash; it&rsquo;s the number of women who become mothers in the first place. According to Stone, childless women are driving&nbsp;<em>100%<\/em>&nbsp;of America&rsquo;s fertility crisis. Within a generation, 1 in 4 young women will remain childless.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Aren&rsquo;t Women Becoming Mothers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There&rsquo;s no doubt we&rsquo;re facing a demographic crisis and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an epidemic of loneliness<\/a>. The answer isn&rsquo;t just &ldquo;make more babies.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s &ldquo;make more mothers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The good news? Most childless women&nbsp;<em>want<\/em>&nbsp;to be mothers. As Brad Wilcox notes, the number of children American women hope to have hasn&rsquo;t changed much. Their ideal fertility remains a little over two children per woman. So why aren&rsquo;t they becoming moms?<\/p>\n<p>A 2021 Institute for Family Studies survey&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/no-honey-no-baby-the-relational-and-economic-factors-associated-with-having-children-in-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found<\/a>&nbsp;the top reason is marital status: 55 percent of non-mothers say they&rsquo;re &ldquo;still looking for the right spouse.&rdquo; Second is affordability &mdash; even in the world&rsquo;s richest nations, 36 percent of women say they just can&rsquo;t afford a child, especially with the rising opportunity costs for working parents.<\/p>\n<p>What helps a woman choose motherhood? Confidence &mdash; in stable housing, food, educational choice.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/pronatalism-initiative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Smart policy<\/a>&nbsp;can help here, by reducing financial fears and affirming family formation. But policy can only go so far.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The entire developed world is facing a demographic cliff and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-finally-admit-biden-poses-grave-danger-to-country\/\" title=\"Media Finally Admit Biden Poses Grave Danger To Country\">problem isn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t that women (and men) want more money before they procreate. When facing a civilizational crisis, we need to get back to the bedrock of civilization: the formation of healthy families through happy marriages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For most women, the promise of traditional marriage &ndash; and the confidence that it&rsquo;s their primary path to happiness &ndash;&nbsp; is still the strongest incentive to become a mother.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>More Marriage, More Babies<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In addition to material securities, the young people who can form these unions need a culture-driven change in mentality. The education and entertainment industries for the last 60 years have promoted the narrative that marriage is misery and babies are nothing but a burden. The health care industry, too, has driven an &ldquo;opt-out&rdquo; mentality for women and their mentality with regard to their fertility.<\/p>\n<p>To counteract the broader cultural disdain for marriage and motherhood, it is time for people of faith to promote pro-marriage and pro-child voices. For thousands of years before the sexual revolution, Christians in particular have responded to attacks on children and families with their witness and material aid.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Today, the stakes are even higher, and it is incumbent on us to take back the institutions that broke down families in the West and deceived millions of men and women into rejecting marriage and children.<\/p>\n<p>Recovery is a long shot, but it is possible. For each of us individually, it starts with honoring our mothers this Mother&rsquo;s Day, but even more importantly, with the mothers themselves (and their husbands) offering joyful, inspiring witness to the greatest happiness on earth &ndash; the blessing of babies.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Erika Ahern is a seasoned journalist and Managing Editor for Refine, CatholicVote&#8217;s lifestyle newsletter, and co-host of the LOOPcast.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a mother of eight, I have mixed feelings on Mother&#8217;s Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3804,"featured_media":2432793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pexels-rdne-6849555.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[54340,34488,54921,43327,36479],"class_list":["post-2432792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-demographic-changes","tag-family-planning","tag-fertility-crisis","tag-population-decline","tag-social-issues"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pexels-rdne-6849555.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3804"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2432792"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2432796,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432792\/revisions\/2432796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2432792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2432792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2432792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}