Former President Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance was criticized after a clip of him claiming that regulations around car seat safety "have driven down the number of babies born" in the United States went viral.
A TikTok video of Vance, posted by user @WhatTheActualKaren, who identifies as "Team Kamala" in her bio, features a clip from his exchange with Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO president Sara Nelson during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing in March 2023.
The full-length footage, first highlighted by Snopes, captures Vance discussing the need to balance minor safety enhancements for infants on airplanes with the potential stress they could place on both the children and their parents.
Vance said the following:
"American families aren't having enough children. I think there's evidence that some of the things that we're doing to parents is driving down the number of children that American families are having."
"In particular, there's evidence that the car seat rules that we've imposed, which of course I want kids to drive in car seats, have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000. So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that's accommodating to American families."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
@whattheactualkaren OMG. How about affordable #childcare #healthcare #maternityleave #paternityleave ? I don’t think #carseats are the determining factor. Did he #create this story too? #weird #jd #jdvance #debate #kamala #harris #president #vicepresident #walz #timwalz #kamalaharris #vote #voteblue #magaisacult #votethemout #wewontgoback #oldwhitemen #gop #republicans #callyourdadyoureinacult #service #country #america #usa #politics #2024 #bluewave2024 #kamala2024 #voteblue2024💙
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury among children.
Child restraints, such as car seats, lower the risk of injury by 71% to 82% and reduce the likelihood of death by 28% compared to using seat belts alone, according to AAA. For children aged 4 to 8, booster seats decrease the risk of nonfatal injuries by 45% when compared to just seat belts.
None of this has anything to do with my the birth rate has been dropping in the U.S.—let alone other Western countries, however.
Fertility rates are generally elevated in economically disadvantaged nations, but high maternal and infant mortality rates can curb overall birth figures, per the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In many developing regions, children are essential for agricultural labor and elder care, contributing to a higher demand for larger families. These areas also experience elevated fertility rates due to limited access to birth control and lower levels of female education.
In contrast, wealthier, developed nations typically see reduced fertility rates driven by lifestyle choices tied to economic stability. Here, low mortality rates, widespread access to contraception, and the high costs associated with raising children, such as housing and education, often lead to smaller families.
Vance clearly had no idea what he was talking about—and he was swiftly called out for it.
Vance's resurfaced remarks come on the heels of his wildly out-of-touch solution for lowering high daycare costs—suggesting that people should simply make extended family members watch their children.
During a Turning Point Action event in Mesa, Arizona, earlier this month, conservative pundit Vance said:
"One of the ways that you might be able to relieve a little bit of pressure on people who are paying so much for daycare is, maybe grandma and grandpa wants to help out a little bit more. Or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle that wants to help out a little bit more. If that happens, you relieve some of the pressure on all of the resources that we’re spending on daycare.”
"Let's say you don't have somebody who can provide that extra set of hands. What we've got to do is actually empower people to get trained in the fields that we need for the 21st century."
"We've got a lot of people who love kids, would love to take care of kids, but they can't because they don't have access the education they need or, maybe more importantly, because the state government says, 'You're not allowed to take care of children unless you have some ridiculous certification that has nothing to do—nothing to do—with taking care of kids."
Childcare expenses in the United States have continued to surge, as outlined in the Care.com 2024 Cost of Care Report. Many families are finding it increasingly difficult to manage these rising costs, often relying on their incomes and savings to meet this critical financial demand. Affordable childcare options are hard to come by, and waitlists are notoriously long.
The report reveals that in 2023, 47% of families spent over $1,500 per month on childcare. Despite some variation in costs depending on the type of care, 49% of families expect to spend a similar amount in 2024. The average national weekly daycare cost was $321 in 2023, up 13% from $284 in 2022, amounting to nearly $1,300 per month.
It's no wonder people are having fewer children but someone might have to drill that into Vance.
