The “Freak Out” over the Decline of US Births is Misplaced.

The 2016 US Fertility figures are out, and demographers are strangely flummoxed by a drop in US births.

“The United States is in the midst of what some worry is a baby crisis. The number of women giving birth has been declining for years and just hit a historic low. If the trend continues — and experts disagree on whether it will — the country could face economic and cultural turmoil.”

The statistics:

“According to provisional 2016 population data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday [June 30, 2017], the number of births fell 1 percent from a year earlier, bringing the general fertility rate to 62.0 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. The trend is being driven by a decline in birthrates for teens and 20-somethings. The birthrate for women in their 30s and 40s increased — but not enough to make up for the lower numbers in their younger peers.”

Why is there a decline in fertility?

““It’s about millennials,” says Donna M. Strobino, a professor of population, family and reproductive health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“What this is is a trend of women becoming more educated and more mature. I’m not sure that’s bad,’ she explained.”

Why are women trending away from modern day feminism? Hmm…

I am about to make an easily argued and flawed comparison and conclusion, but hear me out, please.

In 2013, the birth rate in the US was 62.5, as recorded by the CDC. Additionally, the abortion rate for the same year, the most recent statistic available, was 12.5 abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 to 44. I read the numbers to broadly mean, in 2013 the US rate of conception was at or about 75 young ones per 1,000 women in the 15 to 44 age range.

As prefaced above, my conclusion is sorely deficient on so many and varied levels, one being that conceiving is happening, well a LOT here in America and there is, rightly so, no way to accurately quantify it. So, there’s that.

But, stuffing the scientific method in an airtight box for a sec, let’s just agree that when adding babies born to babies buried (preterm) all 75 tiny souls were by God’s grace intended to survive their first nine months of life.

Today Americans affirm the inalienable right to Life for all, as well as Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Please take a beat for the babies, too.

“We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; …” – Jefferson’s unedited Declaration of Independence.

Can anybody tell me what Independence Day is all about?

Because of his failing health and grief over the loss of a beloved granddaughter, Thomas Jefferson was unable to gather for the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, as Jefferson was wont to do, he composed his thoughts into a letter. The following excerpt is unedited, as read by the Mayor of Washington, June 24, 1826.

“may it be to the world what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which Monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self government. the form which we have substituted restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion.

“all eyes are opened, or opening to the rights of man. the general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth that the mass of mankind has not been born, with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of god. these are grounds of hope for others. for ourselves let the annual return of this day, for ever refresh our recollections of these rights and an undiminished devotion to them.”

This was to be Thomas Jefferson’s last letter. He passed 10 days later.

Hey, RedStaters! Welcome to the Company WaterCooler! It’s RedState’s only Daily open thread. Happy Birthday, America! Celebrate safely. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t blow your face off with sparklers. Enjoy!