Commentary

I didn’t mean to wait so long to have children. It just happened. I was busy—running restaurants, pushing for growth, hoping to be acquired so I could do it all over again. Empire-building was my focus. My first marriage came and went during that season. My then-husband even told me he was worried I wouldn’t be able to care for a child because I was so hyper-focused on work.

Years later, at 36, I married my current husband. We’ve had four children together so far. Statistically, the odds were not in our favor. Fertility declines steeply with age, yet I was blessed. Against all the warnings and odds, I was still able to have a big family.

But I now realize how rare that makes me. As a society, we are in a full-blown reproduction crisis—and it’s not just anecdotal.

According to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States reached its lowest total fertility rate ever recorded in 2024: just 1.599 children per woman, far below the replacement rate of 2.1. Birth rates declined among women under 35 across all age groups. Only women in their 40s saw a slight increase.

I suspect this slight increase is due in part to fertility treatments. And for every one of those women in their 40s who was able to conceive, there are many more who waited and were heartbroken to discover they could no longer participate in motherhood. The uptick after 40 is not a reversal of the trend—it’s a fraction of the steep decline among women in their 20s and 30s, most of whom will not be able to reverse course.

This isn’t just by accident. This is partially by design.

We’ve created a world where reproduction is seen as optional, even burdensome. We’ve saturated our environment with endocrine disruptors, “forever chemicals,” and hormone-destroying additives. We face epidemics of low testosterone and declining sperm count—so severe that experts warn we could hit zero viable sperm in the Western world by 2040 if trends continue. Obesity, stress, poor diet, and pharmaceutical overuse only worsen the picture. Meanwhile, birth control, abortion, vasectomies, and morning-after pills are celebrated as progress—even as they contribute to a quiet collapse of fertility.

Every other mammal on this planet prioritizes reproduction—usually immediately after food and water. We, as modern humans, are the only species that seems to have forgotten our most basic purpose. We act as if we can transcend biology and function as if life doesn’t need to continue. And the results are showing.

I explore this more deeply in my upcoming book, “Debunked by Nature,” but I’ll say this plainly here: When you are at the end of your life, what will matter most? The startup you sold to a hedge fund that invested in it and helped it thrive? Or the one that got absorbed, gutted, and dismantled? Or your children?

For me, the answer is easy. There is no accomplishment that compares to watching my kids laugh while we chase rabbits around our farm at dusk. No award or title that compares to curling up in bed with my husband and our four little ones, all piled on our two joined king mattresses, watching a movie together. No business meeting as sweet as visiting the farmers market as a family on a Tuesday afternoon.

Motherhood is not a detour from purpose. It is purpose.

And yet, across the Western world, we’ve engineered a culture that devalues it—subtly and overtly. We tell women that to matter, they must “contribute” by climbing the corporate ladder. We treat fertility as a problem to manage, not a gift to steward.

Meanwhile, much of the world still values children. In the Middle East, South America, and parts of Africa, birth rates remain stronger and family remains central. In contrast, the United States and Europe are in steep demographic decline. Even China, once the model of population control, is now desperately trying to undo its one-child policy as the consequences come into focus.

The truth is stark: A nation that doesn’t reproduce cannot survive. A people that abandon children abandon their own future.

Some of this is beyond our control—but not all of it. Those of us who can have children need to rise to the occasion. Not just for personal legacy—but for the good of humanity.

We must choose faith over fear, life over convenience, purpose over performance. We must resist the cultural narrative that says kids are a burden, and reclaim the ancient truth: Children are a blessing.

I was fortunate. I had my family late, and it worked out. But I now see how fragile that window is. The data doesn’t lie. America’s fertility rate is in freefall, and we’re pretending it doesn’t matter. But it does. It always has.

Let us remember what other creatures never forget: life is meant to continue. And if we want a future worth living in, we need to start creating it—literally.

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