Birth Strike

Public statements by House Speaker Paul Ryan and columnist Ross Douthat, both urging American women to have more children, put into the open a concern that American policymakers have long voiced more quietly. Mainstream think tanks warn in economic terms about demographic decline, arguing that a shrinking pool of young workers will strain pensions and weaken demand and growth. Jenny Brown argues that the familiar story, which blames a conservative religious movement for the battle over reproductive rights, hides a deeper struggle over who performs and pays for the work of raising children.

In her account, planners want a growing labor force produced cheaply, with little employer spending and a heavy reliance on unpaid work by women. Meanwhile, many American women are declining to have children at the rates economic planners want. Limited access to childcare, paid family leave and health care, along with too little help from men, shapes these choices. Brown contrasts this with countries where governments, worried about falling birth rates, have funded childbearing through broad universal programs.

Brown contends that American women have not yet recognized how much leverage their collective refusal gives them. If they do, she suggests, it could lead to stronger campaigns for full access to abortion and contraception, and for better conditions for the parents who now struggle to raise children in the United States.