Your genitals are reserved for procreation

 

"American candidate's to become a vice president, JD Vance’s three-year-old complaint that the country was being run by “childless cat ladies” like Vice President Kamala Harris has prompted bipartisan outrage and made the Ohio senator’s campaign to be vice president look wobbly before it has barely begun.

But, if you listen carefully, you’ll see that it is part of a discussion that Vance and some other Republicans appear eager to have.

Vance, 39, has long spoken publicly about his concerns about the falling American birthrate — and it’s not just him. During the Republican National Convention two weeks ago, talk about the importance of having babies was so prominent, I wondered if “Make America Procreate Again” was becoming a party tagline.

There is much to unpack here. Vance’s old comments — and his defense of them — have pushed the thorny and deeply personal politics of reproduction center stage in an election that Democrats were already eager to turn into a referendum on women’s personal freedoms on issues like abortion and birth control. They also coincide with theories about Democrats trying to replace natural-born Americans with immigrants.

So, tonight, let’s take a look at a theme I think could shape this election even after the furor over Vance’s comments dies down.

A matter of birthrate

On Friday, Vance defended his comments in an interview with the SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly, saying his comments about Harris were “sarcasm,” but that his larger concern was that Democrats were “anti-family” and “anti-child.” He also chastised the country’s low birthrate.

Vance’s original comments drew pushback from the White House. The discussion of the nation’s birthrate, however, was music to the ears of Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project, a national conservative advocacy group, and the father of seven children.

“I think what JD’s really getting at is the fact that the family’s been forgotten in America,” Schilling said. “The discussion around America’s families in relation to our falling birthrates is long overdue.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fertility rate in America dropped to a historic low this year. Adults who don’t plan to have children cite many reasons, including economic concerns, a lack of a social safety net, an inability to conceive and simply not wanting to.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal this year, Vance cast this as an economic problem, and also as a reflection of America’s lack of patriotism. He has previously said that people without children should pay higher taxes.

I heard similar comments from the stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Charlie Kirk, the 30-year-old founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, proudly told the crowd he had two children under the age of 2, and blamed President Biden’s economic policies for low birthrates.

“Democrats have given hundreds of billions of dollars to illegals and foreign nations, while Generation Z has to pinch pennies so they can never own a home, never marry and work until they die, childless,” Kirk said.

Several speakers made a point of telling the crowd how many children they have — five, seven and even, for one speaker, 11. Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota bragged that her state has the highest fertility rate in the nation.

“People are having babies because they are happy,” she said, to applause. “And in South Dakota, we love babies.”

Fodder for Democratic attacks

In recent years, falling birthrates have been a concern of several prominent figures on the right, including Elon Musk (who has many children of his own) and Tucker Carlson.

Those concerns, experts on right-wing politics say, coincide with the spread of the “great replacement theory,” which is the idea that immigrants are coming to the United States to dilute the power of native-born, white voters.

“What’s sotto voce being said is, ‘not enough white babies’ — that’s really the problem,” said Philip Gorski, a sociologist at Yale who has studied Christian nationalism.

Schilling said his concern with the birthrate has nothing to do with race. In his Friday interview, Vance, who is married to the daughter of Indian immigrants, said he had nothing against immigrants. But my colleague Jazmine Ulloa pointed out that Vance echoed tenets of replacement theory when he said without evidence in his interview with Kelly that Democrats believed they could “replace American children with immigrants.”

Democrats have already had a field day with Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments. There are signs they will take aim at Republicans’ broader concern with procreation and the birthrate, too.

On Monday, a super PAC aimed at youth voters called Won’t PAC Down posted an ad to X suggesting that Republicans’ focus on people’s private sexual conduct is just plain “weird,” drawing on an attack line that has been deployed by Harris and some of her allies.

“Your genitals are reserved for procreation,” says an elderly white man in a sweater vest, as ominous music plays." [1]

1. On Politics: The Republicans who want to Make America Have Babies Again. Bidgood, Jess.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Jul 29, 2024.