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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

It’s probably not selfishness, experts say. Even young adults who want children see an increasing number of obstacles.

For years, some conservatives have framed the declining fertility rate of the United States as an example of eroding family values, a moral catastrophe in slow motion.

JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, recently came under fire for saying in 2021 that the nation was run by “childless cat ladies” who “hate normal Americans for choosing family over these ridiculous D.C. and New York status games.”

Last year, Ashley St. Clair, a Fox News commentator, described childless Americans this way: “They just want to pursue pleasure and drinking all night and going to Beyoncé concerts. It’s this pursuit of self-pleasure in replace of fulfillment and having a family.”

Researchers who study trends in reproductive health see a more nuanced picture. The decision to forgo having children is most likely not a sign that Americans are becoming more hedonistic, they say. For one thing, fertility rates are declining throughout the developed world.

Rather, it indicates that larger societal factors — such as rising child care costs, increasingly expensive housing and slipping optimism about the future — have made it feel more untenable to raise children in the United States.

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[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 74 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I bet if the billionaires shared just a bit more we could afford to have more kids and they wouldn’t be looking at their labor force drying up…

[-] 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 1 month ago
[-] Hule@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

There's the option of importing cheap workforce. It has been tried before.. /s

[-] kurikai@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You forgot to add... While that imported labour is scared they will get deported so they don't complain they are underpaid or taken advantage of. Just how the corporation's want it

this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
213 points (93.8% liked)

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