(Newswire.net — January 8, 2019) — According to the data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American women are having less children compared to what previous years’ information suggests. The United States’ fertility rate dropped to 60.2 births per 1000 women between the ages of 15 and 44. This is the lowest it’s been in 30 years.
American women are also choosing to have children at a later age, as explained by the spike in the average age of first-time mothers in the United States. The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported that the average age for first-time mothers increased greatly for black women.
This change in the average age of motherhood for black women–and women in general–speaks of a connection between the various statistical reports being thrown around to support various platforms. For one, this increase in older moms has decreased teen pregnancy by a huge margin. This drop may be explained by how much easier it is for women to gain access to birth control.
These changes spell a lot of things for the United States. Most children born to teen mothers are more likely to end up being a part of the country’s social development programs. This could range from being part of the foster care system, juvenile detention systems, or even adult penal facilities like prisons. Increased awareness and access to birth control means that there will be fewer individuals that will be a part of these systems.
These statistics also spell good news for the feminist movement. The shift in the average age of mothers and number of children per mother also says a lot about how most families will be operating from a financial perspective. Families who choose to have fewer children at a later age are doing so out of a desire to be more financially capable. More and more women are joining the workforce and are even gaining access to higher positions, a fact corroborated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Because of these shifts in fertility and birth rates, Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) are becoming increasingly popular. Since most women in their forties have significantly lower ovum quality than women in their late 20s or early 30s, surrogate mother agencies such as ConceiveAbilities are helping more mature females build families. Other women turn to other ARTs like IVF, egg donors, and egg-freezing or banking to help them have the family they want at the right time.
While statistically it’s been shown that countries with lower fertility are more developed than those with higher fertility rates, there’s a lot that the United States still has to do to help support this steadying trend. For one, better support surrounding ARTs in legislation has to be done; at the moment, most IVF treatments are costly. Regulating the prices of these technologies could mean more women have access to better treatments. Another thing would be the federal support for working moms. Currently the provisions surrounding post-natal care and parental benefits for mothers are not enough to give them the balance they need to care for the next generation and earn the money they need to do so. Working moms need more time to take care of their newborn, but more importantly, they need more time to ensure that they recover well enough to go back to the workforce without compromising their performance at their job.