“I want more babies in the United States.” The phrase It’s JD Vance and matters especially for two reasons. The first, because although the Republican had shown before His obsession with birth rates, that specific comment released it in January, during His first public speech as vice president of the country. The second reason is that when Vance pronounced it, he did more than give his personal opinion: he connected with a movement that, although not new, seems to be gaining weight (and visibility) in Trump’s US: Pronatalism.
And Vance is not the only media figure (not even in the Trump administration) in tune in with a speech that goes beyond the US and It arrives in Spain.
What is pronatalism? Roughly, Pronatalism It is an ideology that advocates Increased birth rate of a country. This is defined by the Cambridge Dictionarywhich affects that its basic objective is to increase the population without having to rely on the arrival of immigrants. That, of course, is the definition with thick stroke. If we go down to detail, many more nuances and a mixture of ideologies that do not always coincide in the background or forms are appreciated.
“It can be motivated by cultural, religious, geopolitical or economic imperatives,” comments on The conversation Céline Delacroix, professor at the University of Ottawa, adds: its policies “can manifest in various ways, covering from soft measures, such as stigmatizing those who decide not to have children, other hard, including restricting access to contraceptives.”
An objective, several reasons
While the pronatalist goal is clear, the argument that accompanies it (and justifies) is not always so much. Under his broad and diffuse umbrella conservatives are grouped with religious motivations that see a social pillar in the family, but also more coincident with Musk. In his case the key is not so much religious as the Fear of demographic collapse and its consequences at a social and economic level. The option to open the doors to migration It would be discarded For them for their fear that It ends up weakening The culture of the country that receives it.
Perhaps the best known example of that last profile is the marriage formed by Simone and Malcolm Collinsthe drivers of the organization Pronatalist. Although neither of them arrives at 40, the couple already expects His fifth child and aspires to have at least two more. However, the most striking of their case is not the figures, but it is the ideology that has led them to embrace pronatalism.
The Collins They are defined as Tecnopuritanosatheists, anti racist, defenders of LGBTQ+ rights and its vision of pronatalism contemplates the use of in vitro fertilization or genetic selection. Moreover, they themselves They have resorted to both, including the Preimplantational genetic test (PGT) to rule out embryos at risk of cancer or “mental health problems” for which there is no quality treatment. “” We obviously analyze the intellectual coefficient, “they add.
Is it something new? No. Natalism or pronatalism exists For several decadesbut in the US it has gained remarkable visibility for several reasons, beyond the expectation that can awaken cases such as collins marriage. One of those reasons, fundamental to understanding its boom, is the Birth decline of the US. The other is the notoriety of certain figures in tune with the main objective of the natives: encourage the birth rate of the country.
Vance is one of them. Another is Musk, who has At least 11 offspring and In 2022 came to tweet that “the collapse of the birth rate is, by far, The greatest threat that faces civilization. “Donald Trump himself He has recognized openly that he wants to boost a new “baby boom” in the US.
The most revealing movement however has made another high position of Washington, the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. Father of nine children, Duffy has gone from rhetoric to the facts when signing A memo which prioritizes projects aimed at communities with high marriage and birth rates. There are those He has interpreted it as a clear example of “pronatalist policy.”
The decision of the Transport Department is interesting because, no matter how much Trump pursues a new baby boom or vance you share your desire to see more American babies, there is an issue that is still pending: How to achieve it?
After all, the US is not the first country that intends to increase its birth rate and many others, such as Japan, China either South KoreaThey have proven how complicated it results. The jump from theory to facts is also relevant to the natives because it transparent their internal tensions and differences.
The magazine The Atlantic reflects it well in An article entitled “The loneliness of the conservative pronatalist”. To encourage birth, there are conservative cutting formulas, such as promoting family values; But also other liberals, such as granting more subsidies to parents or betting on housing promotion policies, a solution that clashes a priori with the efforts of Donald Trump (and Musk) to achieve On the contrary: put the scissors in the administration.
Another friction point is what the Collins represent: the use of in vitro fertilization and other practices that arouse misgivings among anti -abortion.
The connection with Europe (and Spain)
Pronatalism has supporters, but also detractors. And there are a few reasons that explain it. Although people like Collins try to mark distances with racism, even It is not so much The most active pronatals in the US were the white nationalists concerned that other communities surpass them in number. His recent boom is also closely linked to the speeches of figures on the right, such as Elon Musk or JD Vance, who pronounced his famous “I want more babies” during the Life marchan act against abortion.
The result is that extreme right formations have capitalized the speech pronatalist as a reaction to feminism and the defense of sexual autonomy that It has been dominating for years In the public sphere. Also to immigration. Spain leaves a good example. A few days ago the deputy of Vox Rocío de Meer regretted that, despite the fact that the country is immersed in “a demographic emergency,” the government opts to “massively import the children of others.”
“It seems that they have been talking about a Climate emergency that no one sees and that everyone suffers in the form of small restrictions in their daily environments. And yet, the true emergency, the demographic, how our peoples are emptying, this is something we are seeing and what nobody is talking about, “says the deputy of Vox.
It is not the first time that the extreme right -right formation touches the subject. Vox has made the “demographic crisis” one of his great battle fronts And he has openly advocated encouraging birth among the Spaniards. “The progress of all parties, the PSOE or the PP, tell us that in Spain 25 million immigrants are needed in the next 35 years, when what is needed are 25 million children … Spanish!” has come to Cread Its leader, Santiago Abascal.
More or less similar speeches have also been heard in Viktor Orbán Hungary (“We don’t need figures, we need Hungarian children”) or Meloni’s Italy (“We have made birth and family an absolute priority”). And a quick search arrives to also check its footprint on the networks.
Another revealing fact is that much of The most visible faces Protanalism are men. Something that is not accidental. The fall in birth agreed largely part with women’s access to training, labor market and contraceptives, so, Slide The Atlanticthere are those who can see with suspicion that the pronatalists want to rethink that equation.
Some experts, such as Professor Céline Delacroix, have already lifted your voice to warn of the dangers of betting on the policies that “prioritize demographic objectives”, putting them even “reproductive autonomy.”
“The policies that prioritize demographic objectives on the power of a person to make their reproductive decisions have led to devastating consequences,” Delacroix prevents before remembering the measures taken in the 80s in Romania by Nicolae Ceausescu. And he adds: “Pronatalist narratives also undermine efforts to reduce the impact on the environment.”
Beyond the words of Vance or the objectives of the pronatalists, there is a reality that marks the US demography, as well as that of many other nations: The decline of birth. Since 2008 the US fertility rate is Below 2.1which means that it is insufficient to at least keep the current population of the country stable. In 2022 it was already 1.7. In other countries the panorama is even worse. In South Korea, just reaches 0.75.
The neonatalists They warn of the “Watchmaking Pump” that represent these figures and prevent the challenges of an aging society in which there is no population of working age capable of sustaining pension systems. “There will be countries with elders starving,” warns Malcolm Collins.
In the pole on there are those who Remember that the global population will continue to increase in the coming decades (there are estimates They point out that it will exceed 10,000 million people in 2100) and there is no data what show what levels the planet can really house “sustainably”, a matter largely linked to factors such as technology or consumption levels.
Images | Jonathan Borba (UNSPLASH), Gage Skidmore (Flickr) and Gabriel Tovar (UNSPLASH)
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings