‘Fertilisation president’ Trump worries women with baby boom policy plans

Donald Trump wants a baby boom in the US. He’s dubbed himself the “fertilisation president” with promises to make IVF cheaper and more accessible, he’s tightened the government’s grip on abortion, and now his aides are assessing a range of plans to entice women to get pregnant.

Incentives under consideration include a $5,000 (£3,770) cash bonus for mothers after they give birth, menstrual cycle classes for women so they can track when they are more likely to conceive, and giving priority to people who are married or have children for prestigious awards like the Fulbright programme, according to the New York Times.

America’s birth rate has dropped in recent decades from 2.1 births per woman in 1990 to 1.62 in 2023. Vice President JD Vance, who is often seen at events with his wife and three children, and drew controversy during the election campaign by referring to “childless cat ladies,” called it a “civilisation crisis”.

Vance and Elon Musk, who is believed to have fathered at least 14 children, are among the many pronatal, anti-abortion voices in the White House who have helped create the perfect breeding ground for the Trump administration to push a message that women should be having more children.

But while experts agree the US’ declining birth rate is a problem, they warn it is a trend that has been felt worldwide and does not need a quick fix with short-term bonuses or incentives.

“It’s just catching up to what’s been going on in every place else among high income countries,” Phillip Levine, author of The Puzzle of Falling US Birth Rates since the Great Recession, told The i Paper. “This is not just an issue for the US.”

Offering financial incentives “might move the needle a bit” but he doesn’t expect many to take up the offer if it does materialise as a policy.

But Stephen J Shaw, Data Scientist, Demographer and Co-Founder of non-profit X·Y Worldwide, believes “unplanned childlessness” is the driving factor behind America’s falling birth rate.

“In the US today, approximately one in 10 women choose to be childless,” he said, citing CDC data. “Of the remaining nine, only six become mothers and three remain childless despite wanting children – this is what I term unplanned childlessness. Biology is not the biggest factor – it’s hoping for, expecting to find, and being with a partner who is on the same page at the same time.”

He said that if Trump really wants to raise the birth rate, he should focus on policies that reduce career vulnerabilities for young people in their 20s who want to start families.

“There is a lot to cram into our 20s: education, training and establishing a career. Taking a break from this is a vulnerability. I would like to see shortened education timelines, and more secure career paths with sabbaticals for family formation,” he said.

For now, Trump’s potential incentives have enraged women’s organisations, who warn the proposals are designed to control women’s bodies and define the roles men and women play inside their homes.

“It all adds up to the extremists’ paternalist devotion to their idea of the ‘perfect family,’ and how to twist our laws and policies to advance that very narrow vision — one where women need to be controlled, in a fatherly way, for their own good,” said Christian F. Nunes of the National Organisation for Women.

The House Democratic Women’s Caucus sent a letter to Trump expressing their outrage that the White House is considering such proposals while simultaneously planning to slash fertility and maternal health programs. It argued that the administration should instead enact paid leave and expand the current child tax credits to better support mothers and families.

In his first 100 days Trump has pardoned anti-abortion protesters, rescinded a Biden policy helping the families of active service members to access reproductive health care services, and reinstated the Mexico City Policy, prohibiting foreign organisations receiving US aid from providing or discussing abortion care.

Simone Collins, a prominent pronatalist activist in the US who with her husband has been sending proposals to raise the birth rate to the White House, told The i Paper their ideas were aimed at raising awareness over the country’s “demographic collapse”.

“Pronatalism is about raising awareness about demographic collapse so that we can prepare for it in a way that reduces suffering among the vulnerable, and making it easier for families who want kids (or more kids) to have them,” Simone said. “It’s not about limiting reproductive choice or shaming people into having children.”

Their proposals included a National Medal of Motherhood for having six or more children, a variation of a policy that was employed by the Nazis among other authoritarian regime’s such as Putin’s Russia.

Sharon Byrne of Women’s Liberation Front said that “population collapse” is an alarm sounded primarily by men with attention focused on women, “as if they are the problem.”

“We oppose this framing, as there are many factors in play,” Byrne said. “It doesn’t look to be a very welcoming world for women and men to have children. Perhaps if the administration began addressing those concerns, it might find women and men more amenable to starting families.”

The argument around family values and children is impossible to separate from politics, but Levine said that “a political fight is unlikely to solve the underlying problem” of a declining birth rate.

“The ability to remove this problem from politics and address it would be extremely helpful. I do think [falling birth rates] is a concern. It’s something we need to have discussions to think about what he can do about it.”

But “there are no easy solutions to this problem,” he acknowledged.