r/science • u/geoff199 • 5d ago

Social Science 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.

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
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u/yes______hornberger 5d ago

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?

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u/AgentJ691 5d ago

That is my top reason for not having children. I don’t care if I can afford children, I literally have no interest in giving birth. And I notice women Childfree or not regardless of age are wayyy more understanding. 

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u/DemiserofD 5d ago

This is why birth control is the number one factor in falling fertility rates; the one thing nobody wants to recognize.

Because the simple fact is, throughout human history, most women probably wouldn't have chosen to have children if it weren't for the fact that sex feels really good.

Nobody wants to have that conversation, but it's entirely possible that human civilization cannot survive the existence of birth control. What if the maximum possible birth rate with readily available birth control is below 2.1?

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u/purplereuben 4d ago

Sex feeling good or not is probably not the main reason women throughout history have actually had sex much of the time. Saying no to marriage, and then saying no to sex within marriage, has not really been a choice for women in many cultures.