United States President Donald Trump's administration is now considering various ideas to boost the birth rate and push conservative family values.
The White House has been making efforts in recent weeks to try and persuade Americans to get married and have more children. The situation marks a sign that the Trump administration is willing to embrace a new cultural agenda that many of its allies on the right are pushing to fight declining birth rates.
Addressing a Declining Birth Rate
One of the proposed ideas that were shared with aides suggests the reservation of 30% of scholarships for the Fulbright program. This is the prestigious, government-backed international fellowship that could be given to applicants who are married or have children.
Another idea is to give out a $5,000 cash "baby bonus" to every American mother after they deliver a child. There is also a suggestion to call on the government to fund various programs that will educate women on their menstrual cycles, partly to help them better understand when they are ovulating and can conceive a child, according to the New York Times.
All of these proposed ideas are from a movement, that is concerned with declining birth rates, that has finally started to gain allies in the government. Several policy experts and advocates have been meeting with White House aides regarding the issue.
However, administration officials have not yet indicated which of the ideas that have been heard they could ultimately follow through on. Advocates are confident that fertility issues will be a prominent piece of the agenda, arguing that Trump has previously called for a "baby boom."
Right now, the Congressional Budget Office expects an average of 1.6 births per woman over the next three decades. This number represents a significant drop from the 2.1 births per woman that is required to maintain a stable population without immigration, Newser reported.
Various Programs and Policies
Another idea that was brought up was by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who issued a memo vowing to prioritize transportation funding for areas with higher birth and marriage rates. White House aides are said to be working on a report on how to improve the affordability and accessibility of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Experts believe that there are a variety of potential factors that have caused the U.S. birth rate to decline, such as a rise in dual-income households, cost of living issues, and changing social mores.
The situation comes as the U.S. has a birth rate that sits between comparable nations, where it is higher than that of China, Italy, and Japan while being on par with Australia and the UK. Despite this, more and more are becoming concerned about the adverse effects of a shrinking population, as per the Independent.
