Maddy Olcott plans to start a career once she graduates from college. But the junior at the State University of New York-Purchase College is so far not planning to start a family 鈥 even with the Trump administration dangling inducements like thousand-dollar 鈥渂aby bonuses鈥 or cheaper infertility drugs.
鈥淥ur country wants us to be birthing machines, but they鈥檙e cutting what resources there already are,鈥 said Olcott, 20. 鈥淎nd a $1,000 baby bonus? It鈥檚 low-key like, what, bro? That wouldn鈥檛 even cover my month鈥檚 rent.鈥
The Trump administration wants Americans to have more babies, and the federal government is debuting policy initiatives to reverse the falling U.S. fertility rate. In mid-October, the White House unveiled a plan to to in vitro fertilization treatment. President Donald Trump has , calling himself 鈥渢he .鈥
But reproductive rights groups and other advocacy organizations say these efforts to buttress the birth rate don鈥檛 make up for broader administration priorities aimed at cutting federal programs such as Medicaid, its related Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program, and other initiatives that support women and children. The pro-family focus, they say, isn鈥檛 just about boosting procreation. Instead, they say, it鈥檚 being weaponized to push a conservative agenda that threatens women鈥檚 health, reproductive rights, and labor force participation.
Some predict these efforts could deter parenthood and lead to increases in maternal mortality.
鈥淭he religious right wants more white Christian babies and is trying to curtail women鈥檚 reproductive freedom in order to achieve that aim,鈥 said , a spokesperson for Population Connection, a nonprofit that promotes population stabilization through increased access to birth control and abortion. 鈥淭he real danger is the constant whittling down of reproductive rights.鈥
The White House did not respond to repeated interview requests.
A slate of federal programs that have long helped women and children are also being targeted by Trump and Cabinet members who say they champion pronatalist policies.
Medicaid work requirements, for instance, put in place by the Republicans鈥 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a budget law enacted in July, will lead to extra paperwork and other requirements that, according to the , will cause to lose coverage. Medicaid covers more than in the U.S.
The measure also cuts federal funding for a national program that provides monthly food benefits. Almost in fiscal 2023 were children.
GOP spending cuts and staffing freezes have , a federal education program that provides day care and preschool for young, low-income children, even as U.S. adults implore the government to .
And the GOP halted Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood of America for one year because it provides abortion services, forcing around the country to close since the beginning of 2025. Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of women鈥檚 health services, from wellness exams to breast cancer screenings and .
Groups that advocate for women鈥檚 health and reproductive rights say the actions by the administration and congressional Republicans to attack these programs are making it harder for families to get the support and medical care they need.
鈥淭here is a lot of rhetoric about who is worthy of public assistance, and to many policymakers, it鈥檚 not the single mother,鈥 said , a public health law and policy analyst at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
The pronatalist perspective generally supports government intervention to encourage procreation and is rooted in a belief that modern culture has failed to celebrate the nuclear family. The movement鈥檚 supporters also say policies to encourage childbearing are an economic necessity.
A Declining Birth Rate
The has largely been on a downward trajectory since 2007, with the number of births declining by an average 2% per year from 2015 through 2020, according to the , although the rate has fluctuated since.
The concepts that shape the movement can be found in Project 2025, a political initiative led by the conservative Heritage Foundation that has seen many of its proposals adopted by Trump. The document asserts that in a 鈥渉eterosexual, intact marriage.鈥
鈥淢arried men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them,鈥 it says.
Project 2025 also includes many proposals that critics say aren鈥檛 friendly toward women鈥檚 health. For instance, it calls for eliminating access to mifepristone, a drug commonly used in abortions as well as in the management of miscarriages, and encourages states to block Planned Parenthood facilities from receiving Medicaid funding.
The 鈥渕ore babies鈥 mantra is being embraced at the highest levels of the federal government.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 remember any other administration being so tied to the pronatalist movement,鈥 said Brian Dixon, Population Connection鈥檚 senior vice president for government and political affairs.
Just days after he was sworn in, Vice President JD Vance declared, 鈥淚 want in the United States of America.鈥 He has also criticized of women and men who opt not to start families.
The White House in October did announce a discount on certain drugs used in through , a yet-to-debut government website that aims to connect consumers with lower-priced drugs. Mehmet Oz, who heads Medicare and Medicaid, heralded a possible future of 鈥,鈥 resulting from the lower-priced infertility drugs.
The administration also announced it would encourage employers to move to a new model for as a stand-alone option in which employees can enroll. But that is far from Trump鈥檚 earlier pledge to make infertility treatments free and may not be enough to overcome other long-term financial worries that often guide decisions about whether to have children.
Angel Albring, a mother of six, says her dream of having a big family always hinged on her ability to work and avoid child care costs. Her career as a freelance writer enabled her to do so while still contributing to the family’s income, working during nap times and at night, while the rest of her household slept.
鈥淭he whole thing of 鈥榮leep when the baby sleeps鈥 never applied to me,鈥 Albring said.
Some of her friends, though, aren鈥檛 so fortunate. They fear they cannot afford children because of climbing costs for day care, groceries, and housing, she said.
Delivering on ‘Baby Bonuses’?
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has advanced another policy aimed at giving children a future financial boost.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act establishes a tax-advantaged 鈥溾 seeded with $1,000 in federal funds 鈥 often called a 鈥渂aby bonus鈥 鈥 on behalf of every eligible American child. The initial deposits are scheduled to start in 2026 with the federal government automatically opening an account for children born after Dec. 31, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2029.
Parents could contribute up to $5,000 a year initially to the account, with employers able to annually of that amount. The accounts reportedly would be vehicles for long-term savings. Details are still being ironed out, but funds could not be withdrawn before the child turns 18. After that, the accounts would likely become traditional IRAs.
On Tuesday, billionaires Michael and Susan Dell of Dell computer fame said they would give $250 to 25 million children age 10 and under in the U.S. The donations will be aimed at encouraging participation in the Trump accounts.
Pronatalism extends to other parts of the federal government, too.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has , instructed his department to prioritize federal funds for communities with , though it has not yet announced any projects directly related to the initiative. For a time, the administration considered bestowing on mothers with six or more children.
Except there鈥檚 one hitch: Data suggests the policies and programs the Trump administration has proposed won鈥檛 necessarily work.
Other countries have offered more robust programs to encourage childbearing and ease parenting but haven鈥檛 seen their birth rates go up, noted Michael Geruso, an economist for the University of Texas-Austin who hopes to see the global population increase. Israel, for example, has offered free IVF treatment for roughly three decades, yet its birth rates have stayed statistically stagnant, at just under three children for every woman, he said.
France and Sweden have extensive social safety-net programs to support families, including paid time off and paid paternity and maternity leave, and subsidized child care and health care, but their fertility rates are also falling, said Peggy O鈥橠onnell Heffington, a University of Chicago assistant senior instructional professor in the history department who wrote a book on non-motherhood.
鈥淣obody yet knows how to avoid depopulation,鈥 Geruso said.
Some point to a different solution to reverse the United States鈥 declining population: to ensure a younger labor force and stronger tax base. The Trump administration, however, is doing the opposite 鈥 revoking visas and creating an environment in which immigrants who are in the U.S. legally feel increasingly uncomfortable because of heavy-handed policies, analysts say.
The country鈥檚 this year fell for the since the 1960s, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.
Meanwhile, to critics of the administration, the focus on encouraging childbirth allows the Trump administration and Republicans to sound as if they support families.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not seeing policies that support families with children,鈥 said , vice president of income security and child care at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center, a nonprofit focused on gender rights. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a white, heterosexual, fundamentalist Christian, two-parent marriage that鈥檚 being held up.鈥
