{"id":130318,"date":"2025-08-12T12:12:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T20:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/12\/stop-blaming-career-women-for-the-falling-fertility-rate\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T12:12:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T20:12:27","slug":"stop-blaming-career-women-for-the-falling-fertility-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/12\/stop-blaming-career-women-for-the-falling-fertility-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Blaming Career Women For The Falling Fertility Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. note<\/u>: Please welcome Vivia Chen back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, \u201cThe Ex-Careerist,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU\u2019VE BEEN FORCED-FED by the likes of JD Vance, it\u2019s not those\u00a0career-obsessed cat ladies<\/a>\u00a0who are the culprits behind America\u2019s decline in birthrates. The truth is that women simply are having fewer children, and there\u2019s not much that will change that trend, short of enforced childbearing. (Let\u2019s not think about that \u2013 yet.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s happening not just in the U.S. but throughout the world. According to recent\u00a0research from the United Nations<\/a>, the average woman had five children in 1960; today that figure is 2.2 \u2013 the lowest number recorded thus far. And in the U.S., that number is even lower \u2013 1.6 \u2013 and we probably haven\u2019t hit bottom.<\/p>\n

In every state the birthrate is falling<\/strong>, though New Jersey stands out for having the smallest decline. (Is New Jersey more conducive to baby-making?)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Note how New Jersey stands out for having the smallest decline in birth rate. (chart: The Economist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what should really alarm American pro-natalists, reports The Economist<\/a>, is where the birthrate is falling most sharply: Alaska, North Dakota, and Utah \u2013 states that have been historically the most fertile. \u201cAll told, states that had above average fertility rates in 2014 are responsible for more than 80% of the collapse in American birth rates over the past decade,\u201d notes The Economist.<\/p>\n

That means you can\u2019t rely on women in the red states<\/strong>\u00a0to pump out more babies. \u201cTroublingly for such policymakers, the recent fall in birth rates is concentrated in rural parts of the country and places where people tend to have less education,\u201d says The Economist. Even in a place like religious Utah, women aren\u2019t producing babies like they used to. \u201cWhereas in 2005 most women in Utah had their first child before the age of 25, today fewer than one in four do.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s causing this trend? The right will blame bad morals (again, cue the miserable, selfish career gal), while the left will point to the lack of government support for working parents.<\/p>\n

What the U.S. offers in family support is paltry<\/strong>\u00a0(woefully so, compared to other wealthy countries), but will better benefits fix the problem? It\u2019s questionable. Even in countries with generous parental leave, subsidized child care, and free education and health care, birthrates remain stubbornly low. Finland, for example, offers all of the above, yet its birthrate hovers around 1.3.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no single reason for this trend but I suspect women\u2019s access to birth control, being active in the workforce (also connected to birth control, I think) and just having more autonomy than their mothers have a lot to do with it. So JD Vance can issue edicts until he turns purple (\u201cI want more babies in the United States of America!\u201d he hollered at an anti-abortion rally), but women will do what they want.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I don\u2019t see anything wrong with that. Do you?<\/p>\n

Odds and Ends:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Americans strongly condemn adultery \u2013 in theory<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>According to Gallup, a whopping\u00a089% say adultery<\/a>\u00a0is \u201cmorally wrong.\u201d (Only 8% said it was OK, while the remainder weren\u2019t sure.)<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Americans aren\u2019t sinning. According to\u00a0Techopedia<\/a>, 16% of married individuals admit to cheating, though other sources put that figure at 20% to 40%. (There\u2019s apparently no reliable figure, because, well, people lie about cheating.)<\/p>\n

But the real kicker is that Americans top the league table of countries with the most cheaters, followed by Germany, the UK, Brazil, and France. How is it possible that Italy didn\u2019t make that list?<\/p>\n

This 94-year old won\u2019t be pushed around by Trump.\u00a0<\/strong>Remember how Trump insisted that Rupert Murdoch be deposed ASAP because he could drop dead any minute? (The prez is suing Murdoch for defamation for publishing a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that alleged Trump had sent Epstein a raunchy birthday card in 2003.)<\/p>\n

Well, Murdoch won\u2019t be sitting for any deposition unless he\u2019s good and ready. He just struck a\u00a0deal<\/a>\u00a0to give Trump \u201ca sworn declaration describing his current health condition,\u201d plus \u201cregularly scheduled updates\u201d about his health, that postpones his deposition until goodness knows when.<\/p>\n

A personal coda.\u00a0<\/strong>Cameron Stracher\u2019s recent op-ed in New York Times, \u201cI Helped Bury Stories About Trump. I Regret It<\/a>,\u201d stopped me in my tracks. I worked with Stracher at The American Lawyer in the early 2000s and liked him.<\/p>\n

But in 2018, I learned that he was part of the legal machinery that buried unfavorable stories about Trump\u2019s various sexual liaisons. At the time, he was general counsel of American Media, the owner of The National Enquirer. So I wrote a critical post (\u201cThe Lawyer as Pimp<\/a>\u201d) about lawyers who cleaned up after Trump, and I mentioned Stracher\u2019s role. He didn\u2019t take kindly to my post and threatened to sue me. But apparently, he had doubts all along. That\u2019s a relief.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to read more at The Ex-Careerist\u2026.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Vivia Chen\u00a0writes\u00a0\u201cThe Ex-Careerist\u201d<\/a>\u00a0column on Substack where she unleashes her unvarnished views about the intersection of work, life, and politics. A former lawyer, she was an opinion columnist at Bloomberg Law and The American Lawyer. Subscribe to her Substack by clicking here:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The post Stop Blaming Career Women For The Falling Fertility Rate<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Ed. note<\/u>: Please welcome Vivia Chen back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, \u201cThe Ex-Careerist,\u201dhere<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU\u2019VE BEEN FORCED-FED by the likes of JD Vance, it\u2019s not those\u00a0career-obsessed cat ladies<\/a>\u00a0who are the culprits behind America\u2019s decline in birthrates. The truth is that women simply are having fewer children, and there\u2019s not much that will change that trend, short of enforced childbearing. (Let\u2019s not think about that \u2013 yet.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s happening not just in the U.S. but throughout the world. According to recent\u00a0research from the United Nations<\/a>, the average woman had five children in 1960; today that figure is 2.2 \u2013 the lowest number recorded thus far. And in the U.S., that number is even lower \u2013 1.6 \u2013 and we probably haven\u2019t hit bottom.<\/p>\n

In every state the birthrate is falling<\/strong>, though New Jersey stands out for having the smallest decline. (Is New Jersey more conducive to baby-making?)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Note how New Jersey stands out for having the smallest decline in birth rate. (chart: The Economist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what should really alarm American pro-natalists, reports The Economist<\/a>, is where the birthrate is falling most sharply: Alaska, North Dakota, and Utah \u2013 states that have been historically the most fertile. \u201cAll told, states that had above average fertility rates in 2014 are responsible for more than 80% of the collapse in American birth rates over the past decade,\u201d notes The Economist.<\/p>\n

That means you can\u2019t rely on women in the red states<\/strong>\u00a0to pump out more babies. \u201cTroublingly for such policymakers, the recent fall in birth rates is concentrated in rural parts of the country and places where people tend to have less education,\u201d says The Economist. Even in a place like religious Utah, women aren\u2019t producing babies like they used to. \u201cWhereas in 2005 most women in Utah had their first child before the age of 25, today fewer than one in four do.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s causing this trend? The right will blame bad morals (again, cue the miserable, selfish career gal), while the left will point to the lack of government support for working parents.<\/p>\n

What the U.S. offers in family support is paltry<\/strong>\u00a0(woefully so, compared to other wealthy countries), but will better benefits fix the problem? It\u2019s questionable. Even in countries with generous parental leave, subsidized child care, and free education and health care, birthrates remain stubbornly low. Finland, for example, offers all of the above, yet its birthrate hovers around 1.3.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no single reason for this trend but I suspect women\u2019s access to birth control, being active in the workforce (also connected to birth control, I think) and just having more autonomy than their mothers have a lot to do with it. So JD Vance can issue edicts until he turns purple (\u201cI want more babies in the United States of America!\u201d he hollered at an anti-abortion rally), but women will do what they want.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I don\u2019t see anything wrong with that. Do you?<\/p>\n

Americans strongly condemn adultery \u2013 in theory<\/strong>.According to Gallup, a whopping\u00a089% say adultery<\/a>\u00a0is \u201cmorally wrong.\u201d (Only 8% said it was OK, while the remainder weren\u2019t sure.)<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Americans aren\u2019t sinning. According to\u00a0Techopedia<\/a>, 16% of married individuals admit to cheating, though other sources put that figure at 20% to 40%. (There\u2019s apparently no reliable figure, because, well, people lie about cheating.)<\/p>\n

But the real kicker is that Americans top the league table of countries with the most cheaters, followed by Germany, the UK, Brazil, and France. How is it possible that Italy didn\u2019t make that list?<\/p>\n

This 94-year old won\u2019t be pushed around by Trump.\u00a0<\/strong>Remember how Trump insisted that Rupert Murdoch be deposed ASAP because he could drop dead any minute? (The prez is suing Murdoch for defamation for publishing a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that alleged Trump had sent Epstein a raunchy birthday card in 2003.)<\/p>\n

Well, Murdoch won\u2019t be sitting for any deposition unless he\u2019s good and ready. He just struck a\u00a0deal<\/a>\u00a0to give Trump \u201ca sworn declaration describing his current health condition,\u201d plus \u201cregularly scheduled updates\u201d about his health, that postpones his deposition until goodness knows when.<\/p>\n

A personal coda.\u00a0<\/strong>Cameron Stracher\u2019s recent op-ed in New York Times, \u201cI Helped Bury Stories About Trump. I Regret It<\/a>,\u201d stopped me in my tracks. I worked with Stracher at The American Lawyer in the early 2000s and liked him.<\/p>\n

But in 2018, I learned that he was part of the legal machinery that buried unfavorable stories about Trump\u2019s various sexual liaisons. At the time, he was general counsel of American Media, the owner of The National Enquirer. So I wrote a critical post (\u201cThe Lawyer as Pimp<\/a>\u201d) about lawyers who cleaned up after Trump, and I mentioned Stracher\u2019s role. He didn\u2019t take kindly to my post and threatened to sue me. But apparently, he had doubts all along. That\u2019s a relief.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to read more at The Ex-Careerist\u2026.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Vivia Chen\u00a0writes\u00a0\u201cThe Ex-Careerist\u201d<\/a>\u00a0column on Substack where she unleashes her unvarnished views about the intersection of work, life, and politics. A former lawyer, she was an opinion columnist at Bloomberg Law and The American Lawyer. Subscribe to her Substack by clicking here:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed. note: Please welcome Vivia Chen back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, \u201cThe Ex-Careerist,\u201d\u00a0here. CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU\u2019VE BEEN FORCED-FED by the likes of JD Vance, it\u2019s not those\u00a0career-obsessed cat ladies\u00a0who are the culprits behind America\u2019s decline in birthrates. The truth is that women simply are having fewer children, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":130264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Vivia-Chen-Ex-Careerist-HyRGPJ.png?fit=286%2C72&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}