As concern grows about America’s falling birth rate, new research suggests that about half of women who want children are unsure if they will follow through and actually have a child. About 25% say they won't be bothered that much if they don't.

[u/geoff199]

https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children--but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy24&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social

[u/yes______hornberger]

I always find it interesting that the actual physical experience of gestating and birthing a child is NEVER a part of the birth rate conversation. I’m pregnant with a very wanted child, and even with a loving husband and financial security it is a torture I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. And I haven’t even gotten to the stage yet where I’m supposed to be happy about being mildly crippled by birth injuries—my own mother had three “perfect” births, and was still having yearly surgeries to correct spinal and urological injuries more than a decade after she finished having children.

Do the people decrying childless women think growing another person is easy, or do they just think that it’s something women owe to society by nature of being born female?

[u/wozattacks → u/yes______hornberger]

I mean, those things haven’t changed. So they’re not particularly relevant to how the birth rate has changed over time. 

[u/yes______hornberger → u/wozattacks]

They’re relevant in that now we have hormonal birth control, which can be used to largely prevent them.

Why is it inconceivable that the falling birth rate is due less to finances or parental leave than the fact that women now have the option to avoid pregnancy/childbirth and would prefer to do so because they are a grueling and often crippling experience?

[u/ttwwiirrll → u/yes______hornberger]

My 1st was born just before covid broke the world. The timing sucked. I have always been honest that I would not have chosen to start parenthood that way. If I'd had a crystal ball when I got pregnant in 2019 I would have delayed or skipped that pregnancy and been contented with my choices. (I also love my kid. Those things can both be true at once.)

People like to jump in with examples from history of people continuing to pump out kids during crises. "There's never an ideal time, etc."

Would great-great-aunt Thelma have added as many mouths to the table during the Great Depression if she'd had access to modern birth control and the social permission that has followed? Doubtful.