This article is the first in a two-part series highlighting a critical breakout panel that was held on July 10, 2024, at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C.
Why are pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-family policies essential to conservatism?
That question was answered in the panel “Beyond Dobbs,” which featured several experts including Mary Margaret Olohan, senior reporter for The Daily Signal and author of Detrans: True Stories of Escaping the Gender Ideology Cult; Tom McClusky, Director of Government Affairs at Catholic Vote; Emma Waters, Senior Research Associate in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation; and Katy Talento, former top health advisor at the White House Domestic Policy Council.
The panel was moderated by Chad Pecknold, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America.
Family
Much has been written about the current “birth dearth” affecting practically all Western countries, many Asian countries and much of the world. In the United States, for example, our current birth rate is 1.62 children per woman – a record low. But 2.1 children per woman are needed for each generation to simply replace itself with minimal growth; this is called the “replacement rate.”
The Wall Street Journal just published a comprehensive piece analyzing China’s very low – and still falling – birth rate, currently at just 1.16 births per woman. As a result, China’s population is expected to collapse this century. “The U.N. expects China’s population to drop from 1.4 billion today to 639 million by 2100,” the Journal notes. It will continue falling after that.
An ever shrinking and older society is exactly what a dying civilization looks like.
Indeed, “a world where fewer people are getting married and having children is a world that increasingly reeks of hopelessness and a sense of purpose in our lives,” Emma Waters said.
Many on the right have been sounding the alarm on this crisis. This has led to the rise of “pro-natalism,” i.e., advocacy for increasing the birth rate.
Even Elon Musk has been vocal about increasing the birth rate; he’s also lived this out in practice. He now has 12 children … by multiple mothers.
While Waters noted that the rise of “pro-natalism” is a good thing, she convincingly pointed out that increasing the birth rate must be a part of a larger goal: promoting marriage and family formation.
Childbirth cannot and should not be separated from marriage and family life.
“There’s a growing divide between those who detach natalism from its natural context in the family (like Elon Musk), and those who recognize the essential importance of married, mother-father family formation as the solution to our fertility crisis,” Waters pointed out.
While [Musk] is an excellent ally in celebrating more babies, his own approach fails to ensure the healthy formation of families where children are statistically most likely to thrive.
This free-for-all childbearing approach, distinct from family formation, sets children up for failure.
You can read more about why children do best when raised by a married mother and father.
Waters also pointed out that marriage is the best predictor of birth rates. Statistically, married men and women have children. Single men and women have fewer children.
“[Marriage] is our best long-term strategy if we want to reverse the fertility crisis,” Waters said. “Among married couples, the birth rate is doing ok. The reason we’re having a fertility crisis is because there are fewer and fewer people who are getting married, and that’s becoming a big problem.”
She continued,
What began as a marriage recession has now resulted in this fertility crisis. But to solve the fertility crisis, we cannot just focus on creating more children. We must focus on creating more healthy marriages between married men and women. That’s where we’re going to find our solution.
“Children must be celebrated as the natural overflow of marriage,” Waters added, “accepted as they are, a gift of God, regardless of their abilities.”
We must really focus on maintaining that package deal of marriage, sex, and procreation. The moment we redefine marriage as a contractual agreement on our own terms, the moment we change the nature of sex and procreation as a thing we control, rather than partake in, we miss the point of the fundamental understanding of fertility as it is.
Waters concluded her remarks by advocating for pro-family public policies. “All policy must be pro-family policy,” she said. All those working in policy areas – including education policy, national security policy and tax policy, for example – should consider how their work impacts families.
Waters advocated for removing the marriage penalty from our tax and welfare programs. “Don’t in any way make it difficult for people to get married and have children within that union,” she said.
She also touted Education Savings Accounts and encouraged reforming the tax code to ensure married families with children receive the best government support.
Lastly, Waters advocated for cultural solutions, including the creation of entertainment content that promotes the joys of marriage, children and family.
There is no “single bullet” to solving our fertility crisis. But to the extent that healthy marriages and families are the solution to our “birth dearth,” all individuals, families, organizations and governments should consider ways they can promote healthy family formation.
Focus on the Family is presenting upcoming two-day Resist the Drift Marriage Conferences. Attending couples will receive Bible-based concepts and tools from our trained marriage professionals on how to reconnect and strengthen their marriages. You can learn more about these events.
To speak with a family help specialist or request resources, please call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family: Marriage Assessment
Focus on the Family: Marriage Enrichment Events
Focus on the Family: Parenting
Death of the West? U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low.
Why Marriage Matters for Adults
Don’t Believe the Modern Myth. Marriage Remains Good for Men.
Don’t Believe the Modern Myth. Marriage Remains Good for Women.
New Research Shows Married Families Matter More Than Ever
Married Mothers and Fathers Are Happiest According to Gold-Standard General Social Survey
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