The White House appears to be intent on launching a number of initiatives by which it hopes to incentivize Americans to marry and, more importantly, to have children. The Trump administration’s ultimate goal is to reverse current birth rates while promoting conservative family values.
Among the various proposals being considered would be to reserve 30 percent of Fulbright program scholarships for aspiring spouses or those with children, or to reward every new mother with a $5,000 postpartum bonus. A third program, on the other hand, calls on the government to fund menstrual cycle education programs to better understand when you are ovulating and are able to conceive a child.
These ideas emerge from a movement concerned about declining birth rates that has now finally found allies in the U.S. administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk. Supporters of such initiatives have expressed confidence that they will become a major item on the government agenda, with President Trump himself invoking the importance of a future “baby boom.”
“I just think this administration is inherently pronatalist,” said the activist Simone Collins, who has proposed that the White House award a “National Medal of Motherhood” to mothers with six or more children. Discussions on family policies suggest that Trump is quietly drafting an ambitious plan to promote new projects while focusing much of his attention on higher-profile priorities such as federal cuts, global tariffs and mass expulsions.
The measures currently being contemplated by Trump closely resemble Mussolini’s campaign to bolster the birth rate in Italy during the 1930’s. Under Mussolini’s Battle for Births campaign, mothers were incentivized to have more children through various rewards and policies. These included tax exemptions, accelerated promotions for married men with large families, and a Mother’s Medal for women who bore five or more children.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a note that Trump “is proudly implementing policies to uplift American families.” “The President wants America to be a country where all children can safely grow up and achieve the American dream,” she added. Last month, the MAGA leader said he wants to be “the fertilization president.”
The coalition of people who want to see more babies born is broad and diverse. These people, who are deeply concerned about the U.S. birth rate, which has been declining since 2007, fear that the country’s economy could collapse if that trend is not reversed. Many Christian conservatives, moreover, see the decline in births and marriages as a cultural crisis caused by political and media forces that they say belittle the traditional family. However, declining birth rates are not unique to the United States, it is a global phenomenon. South Korea leads the decline with 0.8 children per woman, Japan, at around 1.3 children per woman, Italy at about 1.2, and Germany and China at about the same rate. All these are well below the replacement level of 2.1.
As reported by the New York Times, some leaders in the federal administration have already begun enacting policies to support large families. Most notably, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a father of nine, issued a memo earlier this year pledging to prioritize transportation funding in areas with above-average birth rates.
The next developments on these issues are expected to come directly from the White House. Trump aides are preparing a report, expected to be released by mid-May, that recommends solutions to make in vitro fertilization more easily accessible and affordable.
