America is facing a totally preventable and self-imposed fertility apocalypse.
Since the Great Recession of 2008, the national fertility rate has fallen more than 16 percent, a decline that shows no sign of slowing down. But in an analysis published earlier this month, Demographic Intelligence Advisor Lyman Stone reports an even more alarming fact: Millennial women on average are unlikely to have as many kids as they say they’d like to have.
“…the gap between the number of children that women say they want to have (2.7) and the number of children they will probably actually have (1.8) has risen to the highest level in 40 years,” Stone writes.
America’s fertility crisis isn’t primarily the result of any real health problem, though many women have experienced adverse health effects by subjecting themselves to years of chemical contraception and abortifacients.
The larger problem affecting otherwise healthy women is the deadly ideology of radical feminism.
The Second Wave feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s preached that a woman’s ultimate fulfillment lies in her ability to overcome the biological obstacles that distinguish her from her male peers. In the decades that followed, widespread access to chemical contraception and the normalization of abortion allowed many women to postpone or prevent their healthy bodies from actualizing their unique potential as mothers.
But what Stone’s research uncovers is a gap between what feminism says women want and what women actually want.
Think about it: Why aren’t women meeting the expectations they’ve set for themselves, even though it’s largely within their power to do so? Because they’ve accepted a narrative that suggests their value lies in their ability to live totally for themselves, free from the “constraints” of family life.
Modern women are unhappy because they aren’t truly free. Feminist dogmatists have chained them to a single, radical ideology that has prevented them from acknowledging the reality of even their own desires.
Too many women today are willing to make themselves absolutely miserable just so that they can meet some ridiculous standard set by bitter man-haters like Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan, when what they truly long for is a combination of service and mutual reliance on those they love. But why?
Women who deviate from the central feminist tenet that healthy fertility is a stumbling block to feminine progress are dismissed by liberal elites as traitors. They are the equivalent of the “Uncle Toms” who dare to go against far-left identity politics in favor of policies that truly help black people. These individuals find no allies in the media, Hollywood, academia, or even within their own communities.
Rather than fight what they perceive to be a losing battle, it becomes easier for women to hop on the feminist bandwagon and try to convince themselves that this is what they truly want.
But the consequences of this passive adherence to feminist dogma extend far beyond women’s happiness. As Stone notes, “very real problems could develop from lower fertility that many might not see coming, like difficulty meeting Social Security obligations, caring for older people and maintaining economic growth.”
The feminist experiment has failed the very group it professed it would help, and the future of American civilization is at risk because of it.
Perhaps that’s not fair, and the proverbial game is rigged to ensure that women can never “have it all.” But it was feminism that first argued that women wanted it all to begin with.
Women have the power to reverse this grim fertility trend and live truly fulfilling lives, but in order to do so, they must confront reality. They must stop allowing the zeitgeist to shape their futures and instead embrace the stalwart approach of counter-cultural warriors like Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Alexander Solzhenitzyn, Thomas Sowell, and Jordan Peterson.
Instead of resenting the inherent inequality between the sexes, what if more women embraced their unique potential for motherhood, a potential that the vast majority of them long to fulfill?
The latest statistics concerning America’s fertility decline should be a wake-up call for millennial women. It’s time to stop trying to conform to the feminist ideal, close that fertility gap, and save civilization.