With all the talk of right wing men having a hard time finding a partner, I really was surprised to discover that Stephen Miller, the inspiration for many of Trump’s cruelest immigration policies, had a wife. But, I then was unsurprised that his wife, Katie Miller, has an anti-feminist podcast. Also no surprise: she has been lamenting that the US fertility rate is falling rapidly. But here is the true shocker: who can we blame for that rotten news?
“Since 2007, the teen birth rate has fallen 72%. Hormonal birth control isn’t just poison for women’s minds and bodies — it’s killing population growth. For the first time ever, birth rates for women in their late 30s have surpassed those in their early 20s.”
And to add to the horror of it all, according to Marc Siegel, a talking head on Faux News masquerading as a senior medical analyst, the following actually qualifies as a social problem, and we should be very worried: ”We’re telling people that are young not to have babies, to wait ‘til they’re in a more stable life situation, ‘til they’re more financially secure, maybe they haven’t found the right partner.”
Yes, the very idea of waiting until you have met someone you can see raising a child with, maybe you even deeply love, have enough financial resources to live independently of your hard working parents or parent, and even a high school diploma, is too much for the MAGA crowd in the face of a worse crime: a declining fertility rate.
I guess I missed something: have not the good Christians of the past been horrified by teen sexual activity? In the very recent past, within even the memory of the youngest voters, did teens who engaged in wanton sexual activity not face punishment? Did I imagine the many demands for “abstinence only” sex “education”?
Maybe the push to accept and welcome children having babies is something else altogether: more “Handmaid’s Tale,” and less allowing the kids to relax about sex.
I have to wonder if part, or even all, of this hand wringing is directly related to the rape culture ushered in by electing a president whose followers thought it was cool that he had bragged about grabbing a woman by the “pussy,” and was convicted of molesting a woman in a department store dressing room. Secretary of War Crimes, Pete Hegseth, is mad full of the teachings of a raving lunatic, Doug Wilson, pastor of possibly the most misogynist sect in a country full of weird allegedly Christian teachings, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
At the schools associated with this cult, Amanda Marcotte writes: “Students at ACCS schools who said they were sexually abused by teachers reported being blamed for causing the older men to ‘stumble.’”
And of course, the cherry on the pie for the pro-natalist crowd, Planned Parenthood is the devil and always being deprived of funds that could help women and families actually have some agency in choosing when and if to have kids. And abortion is the worst sin! Senator Josh Hawley is currently attempting to make safe abortions illegal by pressuring a corrupt FDA to declare that mifepristone is unsafe for use —with Republican Senate enthusiasm.
So this push for teen pregnancies may actually not be condoning sex between consenting teens as much as acknowledging the number of young girls who are victims of men who are family members, employers, teachers, politicians, and all the men who see Donald Trump and his ilk as role models. The drip, drip, drip of information about the Dear Leader and rape of a 13-year-old girl continues. Trump acolyte Matt Gaetz has been very credibly accused of child trafficking and statutory rape. While he resigned from Congress, he continues to hold his Florida law license.
This is a dangerous moment for girls — we who grew up with the feminist movement understand and lived what we hope we left behind. Rape was taken as a joke until women forced the issue. I do not need to remind anyone of the many challenges of teen pregnancy. I raised three children — as a full grown adult. I can’t even imagine having taken on the day after day parenting struggles as a 17-year-old, much less at age 14. While the trumpers are doing their best to create a dystopian society, we cannot forget what we, and the suffragettes before us, have achieved in the struggle for women’s rights. No ambiguity 3 — our rights are being challenged by men who believe that the worst elements of the past must be the future. Well, we say no!
