Consider This from NPR
They want America to have more babies. Is this their moment?
Mon, 07 Apr 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk told Fox News recently that falling birth rates keep him up at night. It's a drum he's been beating for years.Musk is one of the world's most visible individuals to elevate this point of view. Vice President JD Vance also talks about wanting to increase birthrates in the U-S. But it's not just them. There are discussions across the political spectrum about birth rate decline and what it means for the economy. One response to this decline is a cause that's been taken up by the right, and it has a name – Pronatalism. Many of its advocates met up recently in Austin, Texas, at "Natal Con." Pronatalists think they have a friendly audience in the White House. How do they want to use it?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: Why is Elon Musk concerned about birth rates?
Elon Musk is not shy about declaring when he feels civilization is at risk. Last month, he said the fate of civilization depended on the outcome of an election for one seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it's going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.
Another existential risk, according to Musk, artificial intelligence.
Only 20% chance of annihilation.
That's a lot better than I thought.
That's him on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast earlier this year. But Musk has said the biggest danger civilization faces by far is falling birth rates. In a recent Fox News interview, he said it keeps him up at night.
The birth rate is very low in almost every country. And unless that changes, civilization will disappear.
And Musk isn't the only one in the Trump administration focused on this issue.
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Chapter 2: Who is J.D. Vance and what is his stance on birth rates?
Please help me welcome your Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance.
In one of his earliest speeches as vice president, J.D. Vance addressed the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion rights rally in Washington.
So let me say very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America.
Musk and Vance are two of the most high-profile Americans pushing this point of view. But they're not alone. The birth rate decline and its potential economic consequences are a growing policy concern on the political right and the left. And on the right, some of the people worried about this have coalesced around an ideological movement called pro-natalism.
Chapter 3: What is the pro-natalism movement?
Some of its advocates recently gathered at a conference organized by a man named Kevin Dolan. And NPR was there.
And we have a powerful opportunity this year in particular to have conversations that can become the executive orders, the white papers, the grant proposals that can change the course of nations in the 2030s.
Consider this. Pro-natalists think they have a friendly audience in the White House. How do they want to use it? From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro.
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Chapter 4: Who is Simone Collins and what is her role in pro-natalism?
It's Consider This from NPR. This moment feels ripe with opportunity for people who want Americans to have more kids. In Elon Musk and J.D. Vance, they see key White House figures interested in their cause. That was the backdrop for their gathering in Austin, Texas. It's called NatalCon. NPR's Lisa Hagen was there and has this story of what she found.
Simone Collins in her thick-rimmed round glasses is one of the more visible faces of pronatalism. On purpose.
My whole entire Etsy get-up right now, it's intentionally cringe.
She's here at NatalCon in her signature look, which she describes as techno-puritan.
There should obviously be more cybernetics in my outfit, but we are combining chunky hipster glasses and a lot of modern equipment with a bonnet and linen clothing.
Think Thanksgiving pilgrim in a school play with a baby strapped to her back.
You'll get to do that soon.
That's one-year-old Industry Americus. Indy's three older siblings are home with neighbors in Pennsylvania. Simone and her husband Malcolm are expecting a fifth child this year, and she's said that she's willing to die in childbirth to have as many kids as possible.
I would rather not do that. But historically, women died in childbirth at roughly similar rates to the rates at which men died protecting their land or country.
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