Birth rates are way down in the US (to a point that is alarming for future workforce issues). If conservatives want to stop abortion, make the country and world a place where Americans want to raise children.

Quality affordable childcare. Universal preschool. Affordable healthcare. Keep the environment safe. Get rid of guns at school. Affordable safe housing. Public transportation.

Access to resources, counseling, and therapy for those with special needs and those surviving addiction or abusive situations. Better support for fostering and adoptive families. If you make it easier and healthier for families to raise children, more may want to do it.

In Germany, birth rates are so low, they literally give cash payments to parents. Healthcare and schooling (through college) is free or affordable and if you’re a stay at home parent, they offer free daily care starting very early - like 18 months? Like a state Mommy’s day out.

And they have free preschool for everyone. School lunches are free. They don’t worry about guns in school.

I have 3 children, and I am fully aware that having 3 is a privilege in this day and age. In America, it is expensive, relentless, without support - so if you have kids, this is all on you.

So the ability to somewhat care and educate and afford 3 kids means I am privileged and lucky. Which is sad.

We pay a fortune for daycare, school, groceries, healthcare premiums, activities, toys, and are constantly worried about their safety. And we are self employed.

In Korea, elementary students walk up to a mile or 2 a day through packed city streets to school alone. Why? Bc a grownup will always help them cross the street, bc the society values children as precious and necessary to preserve the future. And violent crime is very low.

My kids live like 400 yards from the elementary school and I can’t imagine letting them walk to school alone. And no parent around here would either - you might get the cops called on you, in fact.

Why? Bc in America your kids are YOUR responsibility, all on you alone, and if your kid gets hurt, well, freedom and liberty, and you’re a bad parent I guess.

So why would people want kids? Why would you put yourself through that? The expectation as a woman/mother in the US is that you somehow get educated and have a successful career and bring in half the income while keeping a spotless house, workout and look good.

While exclusively breastfeeding your child, never letting them cry, staying up all hours with them, making sure they brush their teeth a full 2 minutes, limit screen time to 30 minutes a day, do sports and music, attend school, help with homework, and feeding them healthy meals.

And that they live in a safe neighborhood, with access to parks and playgrounds, in a “good” school district, attend every game and recital, read them 400 books a day, and pay for their healthcare and college and daycare and extracurriculars.

If you’re PRIVILEGED you will have a nanny or flexible work schedules or grandparents that happen to live locally who can and want to help. But that is probably like 3% of us, if that.

If you don’t have a fully funded retirement, own a home, AND $250,000 in a college fund for your kid by the time they’re 18, you’re a bad parent and have failed adulting. But you need to do it yourself. Good luck. Oh, and pay your student loans back too, thanks.

Add to that a global pandemic, distance learning or homeschooling, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, toxic air, a bungled federal response to all of it - what are you supposed to do??

Somewhere in there we also have to parent the CHILD. Like, talk to them and listen to their feelings and stories and ideas and help them grow emotionally and teach them to be decent people with good habits.

Parents in the US are so frazzled right now, we are just trying to keep them fed and clothed and alive and I’m sure we are probably yelling more and stressed out and just not connecting with our kids as well as we want to.

Bc the dishes are piling up, the house is a wreck, laundry has to be folded, we have to go over lesson plans and school supplies for the next day, we have to wash and dry masks, we have to prep the next meal or snack, and order winter clothes in the next size up.

NEVERMIND that no one gives a flip about how this is affecting the health and wellness and mental health of parents. Hubs and I have gained a lot of weight, we sleep like 4 hours a night, I have horrible anxiety and insomnia, and we have to worry about fire evacs and money.

We are a privileged privileged family as far as America goes and even we are hanging on by a thread thanks to healthcare, coffee, iPads, technology, and prayer.

So again, if you care about both the sanctity and quality of life - all our lives - then make it better for parents to raise kids. Make it better for kids to grow up here. Make it better for us to work here. Make it safer for us to live here.