Pronatalism in the US: The Trump administration's push for more births

The Trump administration is embracing increasingly worrying measures to try to increase the US birth rate. The growth of far-right pronatalism presents a major threat to reproductive health and rights. Population Connection is monitoring new developments and documenting them here.

Why the widespread “baby bust” handwringing?

Pronatalism (the ideology that there should be more births) is prevalent across the Global North, with governments from all over the political spectrum fearing the potential socioeconomic impacts of below-replacement fertility rates (fewer than two births per woman). This is because reduced population growth can lead to slower economic growth, and a higher proportion of elderly dependents reliant on taxpayer money.

Progressive governments usually try to increase births with policies that support parents and prospective parents (such as subsidized childcare and paid parental leave – these are undoubtedly beneficial but largely ineffective at boosting births), while authoritarian regimes often resort to reproductive rights restrictions.

Right-wing governments and figures with nationalistic tendencies (including Trump) also want to increase birth rates to maintain a strong military and to counter ethnic, racial, and cultural diversification from immigration. These types of leaders often embrace the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory which states that white people are being “replaced” with foreign non-white populations that have higher birth rates. As well as opposing immigration, these governments are hostile to reproductive health and rights, especially abortion care.

“We want more babies” – Pronatalism in the Trump administration

Probably the most influential pronatalist in the Trump administration is the richest man on Earth and father-of-14 Elon Musk, who bought his new position as Trump’s right-hand man with a $288 million campaign donation*. Musk has been trying to sow panic over declining birth rates for years, claiming that the human population is on the verge of collapse due to people having small families, and that low birth rates present a “much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.” Musk has even used his platform to spread misinformation intended to discourage women from using contraception.

*Update: Musk left his position as head of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) in May 2025

While on the campaign trail, Trump declared, “We will support baby booms, and we will support baby bonuses for a new baby boom. How does that sound? That sounds pretty good. I want a baby boom. You men are so lucky out there. You’re so lucky.” This odd and inappropriate assurance was a harbinger of the strangeness to come.

Since Trump’s inauguration, his administration has made more bizarre statements and taken several actions linked to far-right pronatalism. Here’s a list in reverse chronological order:

July 2025

• On July 23, the US State Department told Reuters that almost $10 million worth of contraceptives previously destined for family planning aid in developing countries are due to be destroyed. The government is reportedly paying $167,000 for the life-saving items to be sent to France for incineration. Reproductive rights agencies, including UNFPA and MSI, offered to buy the contraceptives but were denied, which clearly reveals the government’s cruel intention of withholding birth control from vulnerable women. [Earlier this year, the Trump administration dissolved USAID and eliminated almost all foreign aid — international family planning assistance was among the first programs to be cut].
• The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is indicating that it is aiming to divert funds from Title X — the federal program helping low-income and uninsured Americans access family planning services — to fund an “infertility training center” with the goal of boosting pregnancies.
• Trump signed his devastating and absurdly named “one big beautiful bill” into law on July 4. The bill includes a rather insignificant $1,000 baby bonus in the form of a “Trump account,” a type of tax-advantaged savings account, which will be available to all new babies who are US citizens as of July 2026.
• The bill also deprives Planned Parenthood and its members of Medicaid funding, meaning low-income Americans will have drastically reduced access to reproductive health services.

April 2025:

• The Trump administration is reportedly considering different policy proposals aimed at increasing the birth rate, including a $5,000 “baby bonus,” a “motherhood medal” for women with six or more children, a commitment to reserve 30% of Fulbright scholarships for applicants who are married or have children, and government-funded menstrual education to teach women and girls when they are best able to get pregnant.
• In another hypocritical move, especially in light of his “fertilization president” comments a few days prior, on April 1, Trump eliminated the federal department in charge of tracking IVF progress across the US. The six researchers that made up the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance team were part of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs across the Department of Health and Human Services.

March 2025:

• Several Planned Parenthood state affiliates received notices on March 31 that their Title X funding is being “temporarily withheld” due to “possible violations” of Trump’s executive orders aimed at eliminating the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion.
• In an interview on Fox News on March 28, in response to the question “What’s the biggest thing for you that keeps you up at night?” Elon Musk — after pausing and staring into space for so long it looked like he was glitching — said, “The birth rate is very low in almost every country, and unless that changes, civilization will disappear … nothing seems to be turning that around. Humanity is dying.”
• Trump made a bizarre statement about wanting to be known as the “fertilization president” at a Women’s History Month event at the White House on March 26: “We’re gonna have tremendous, tremendous goodies in the bag for women too. The women, between the fertilization and all of the other things that we’re talking about, it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be great. We’re joined today [laughter from the crowd] … Fertilization. I’m still very proud of it, I don’t care. I’ll be known as the fertilization president, and that’s okay. That’s not bad. That’s not bad. I’ve, I’ve been called, I’ve been called much worse. Actually, I like it, right? I like it. Thank you.” (It seems he was referring to IVF but likely forgot what it’s called. He admitted not knowing what IVF was until it was explained to him in October 2024 by an Alabama senator)

February 2025:

• Trump issued an executive order about expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF). The move is largely seen as symbolic, as it just calls for policy recommendations “to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.” It quotes Trump, who admits this support for IVF is “because we want more babies, to put it very nicely.” Clearly, this conflicts with his anti-abortion stance, once again making it blatantly obvious that his attacks on reproductive rights are about controlling women’s bodies, rather than genuine concern for the earliest stages of human life. [Read more about the hypocrisy of IVF support from “pro-lifers” here].

January 2025:

• In his first speech as Vice President, at the so-called March for Life in Washington, DC, JD Vance implied that he opposes abortion because he wants to raise the birth rate. “I want more babies in the United States of America!”
• Shortly after Sean Duffy was confirmed as Transportation Secretary, he circulated a bizarre order instructing his department to “prioritize projects and goals that […] give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average” when awarding grants, loans, and contracts.
• Soon after Trump took office, reproductiverights.gov, a government website outlining women’s rights to abortion and contraception under US law was taken down. Similarly, information on contraceptive guidance was removed from the CDC website.

The wider US pronatalist movement

Outside of the US government, the movement of people thinking we urgently need more babies seems to be gaining traction too. Right-wing think-tanks, for example, have been issuing “baby bust” warnings for years. The Heritage Foundation (the Trump-allied group behind far-right playbook Project 2025) recently published a plan to increase the US birth rate which involves defunding higher education, because the number of children a woman has in her lifetime is inversely correlated with the number of years she spends in education. In other words, they believe in withholding educational and career opportunities from women to force them to return to traditional domestic roles.

Then there are media magnets Simone and Malcolm Collins, a Pennsylvania-based couple who espouse a bizarre interpretation of utilitarianism which concludes that when it comes to numbers of people, more is always better. The Collinses founded their own organization, the “Pronatalist Foundation,” aimed at raising concern over “demographic collapse” driven by low birth rates. Their four children (and counting) were all conceived via IVF and genetic screening methods. The couple has been profiled in countless media outlets due to their kooky views and controversial parenting style.

The Collinses were among the speakers of the first-ever “Natal Conference” in Austin, Texas, in 2023 (organized by outspoken eugenicist Kevin Dolan), alongside a weird collection of far-right influencers and conspiracy theorists. The conference’s second edition, also featuring the Collinses, took place in March 2025.