Parenting

They Blame Feminism for Falling Birth Rates—but Data Says It’s Saving Families

PUBLISHED 5/6/2026 by

Last month, the newest fertility data dropped—and the U.S. fertility rate has fallen again, hitting another record low.

Almost immediately, conservative influencers, media figures and elected officials pointed fingers at feminism, blaming women’s independence, career ambitions and access to contraception for the decline in births.

It’s a convenient narrative to push along their anti-birth control agenda. But it’s also wrong.

If you actually listen to women—and look at the data—the story becomes much clearer. The number one reason women are delaying or forgoing having children isn’t ideology, it’s affordability. Childcare costs, housing prices and healthcare access have made starting a family financially daunting for millions of Americans. Mix in student loan debt and political turmoil, and having a baby in 2026 is a scary venture. 

And yet, instead of addressing these barriers, policymakers—and organizations leading the way like the Heritage Foundation—are moving in the opposite direction. They are cutting or rolling back the very programs that make family life possible.

Trump Touts a ‘Roaring Economy.’ Families Say Otherwise.

PUBLISHED 2/25/2026 by

In his State of the Union address, President Trump opened by boasting about a roaring economy, falling inflation and a richer and stronger nation. But those claims ring hollow for many Americans who feel economic security slipping further out of reach, a reality made worse by the policies he and his Republican Congress have championed.

In Tucson, Ariz., Angelica Garcia begins most mornings waiting for her Lyft app to ping. She’s a driver raising three children in a two-bedroom apartment that costs $1,400 a month. Her summer electric bills hover around $300. At the grocery store, it costs her over $100 just to cover basic essentials. Angelica and her children rely on Medicaid and SNAP. Medicaid covered her daughter’s broken arm and her son’s tonsil surgery. “It’s been a blessing. A godsend,” she says.

But her representative in Congress, Juan Ciscomani (R), voted to cut Medicaid and SNAP and to impose new work requirements.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, a retired woman named Jill is enrolled in a Marketplace healthcare plan that once cost her $75 a month thanks to enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. But when Republicans voted against extending those subsidies, her premium jumped to nearly $800 a month.

Her representative in Congress, Marianette Miller-Meeks (R), voted to let those subsidies expire.

In Eau Claire, Wis., Erin Klaus has spent 17 years building up and running her small business. Erin’s representative in Congress, Derrick Van Orden (R), voted to protect Trump’s tariffs—tariffs that made small businesses like hers pay upfront, even as multinational corporations are better positioned to shift supply chains or pass along costs.

Maya Shankar on Infertility, Surrogacy, and Choosing to Be Childfree

PUBLISHED 2/20/2026 by

Over 70 percent of Indian Americans support abortion access and reproductive rights. But you wouldn’t know it from the public conversation. We’re not testifying at hearings, writing op-eds or speaking openly about the messy, painful realities of our own reproductive lives. In a community that prizes privacy and propriety, the body remains one of the last taboo subjects—especially when it doesn’t cooperate.

Maya Shankar didn’t plan to break that silence. But then again, Shankar—a cognitive scientist, best-selling author and host of the award-winning podcast A Slight Change of Plans—has built her entire body of work around what happens when life refuses to follow the plan.

“There’s a special stigma reserved for childfree women,” she says. “And certainly that stigma holds in the South Asian community.”

“Society often says, ‘Always chase your dreams, never accept failure, keep going,'” she adds. “And there are limits on that.”

“It’s just an ongoing conversation,” she says. And then, without prompting: “I’m childfree today. And I feel more joyful and happy and peaceful than I ever have.”

Denmark’s Generous Childcare and Parental Leave Policies Erase 80 Percent of the ‘Motherhood Penalty’ for Working Moms

PUBLISHED 2/13/2026 by

For many women in the U.S. and around the world, motherhood comes with career costs. Can government programs that provide financial support to parents offset the “motherhood penalty” in earnings? Killewald with Therese Christensen, a Danish sociologist, set out to answer this question for moms in Denmark, a Scandinavian country with one of the world’s strongest safety nets.

In an article to be published in an upcoming issue of European Sociological Review, Christensen and Killewald show how mothers’ increased income from the state, such as from child benefits and paid parental leave, offset about 80 percent of Danish moms’ average earnings losses.

‘Every Vote Counts’: What Women Leaders Know About Fixing Broken Political Systems, From Iceland to Washington

PUBLISHED 1/23/2026 by

At the Reykjavík Global Forum on Women Leaders in Iceland, women political leaders gathered with warmth and purpose to confront the most pressing challenges of our time.

We talked about democracy, leadership, activism and power-building. We talked about fear. About childcare. About boys who aren’t sure where they fit in this “new” world. About deadlines and death threats, ranked-choice voting—and the deeper reasons why they keep doing this work despite the challenges.

Amid those conversations, three interviews in particular stayed with me: Liz Berry, a Washington state representative who campaigned with a 6-week-old baby; Eliza Reid, Iceland’s former first lady and author of Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World; and Alison Comyn, an Irish journalist-turned-senator from a country that’s used proportional representation—a form of ranked-choice voting—for generations.

Taken together, their stories sketch a kind of roadmap: how we change the rules, how we change ourselves and how we do this work together. They also leave us with a question: Could my city, state or party pilot a system where “every vote counts,” and more than two parties can breathe? And, if so, how can I help make that change a reality?

The Trap of ‘Existence as Resistance’: Surviving Authoritarianism by Expanding Networks of Care

PUBLISHED 1/3/2026 by

So you and your polycule have found a cute little house to rent, and you’re finally going to build the queer commune of your dreams. All that’s missing is the rainbow flag in the window and the “In Our America…” sign on the lawn. 

While it would be all too easy to subscribe to the idea that your very existence is a form of resistance, we should all be mindful to avoid this trap. It’s true, for those of us in blended, non-normative, queer and chosen families, our ability to succeed and thrive is something to celebrate.

However, our existence alone is not enough to challenge the oppressive systems we live under.

However, our existence alone is not enough to challenge the oppressive systems we live under.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)

Congress Went on Recess. Americans Got Higher Healthcare Bills.

PUBLISHED 12/22/2025 by

Congressional discussions on extending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, which are set to expire Dec. 31, remain deadlocked as Congress begins its winter recess. Now, millions will see their premiums increase as a result: Payments will more than double on average—some even quadrupling—for enrollees who were eligible for the tax credits.

Without the extension, more and more ACA marketplace enrollees will drop their increasingly costly health insurance plans. This comes at a time when the ACA is more popular than ever—recent polls show that across the political spectrum, three quarters of voters support extending the tax credits.

Could the administration’s latest attack on transgender young people be the administration’s way of deflecting attention from the disaster unfolding in real time for millions of families in need of healthcare?  

Santa Is a Woman

PUBLISHED 12/22/2025 by

As Americans prep for the holidays and the time off from paid work that comes with them, I suspect many working moms are steeling ourselves for a season that feels anything but restful.  

The weight of society’s expectations of working moms on a normal day is crushing. As the mother of two young children, an attorney fighting for due process for immigrants in the second Trump administration and a clinical law professor, I know this firsthand.