They want America to have more babies. Is this their moment?

NPR

Published April 8, 2025 at 9:39 AM EDT

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The University of Texas Tower on the University of Texas campus. The school was the site of the recent "Natal Con" gathering.

Billionaire Elon Musk told Fox News recently that falling birth rates keep him up at night. It's a drum he's been beating for years.

Musk is one of the world's most visible individuals to elevate this point of view. Vice President JD Vance also talks about wanting to increase birthrates in the U.S.

But it's not just them. There are discussions across the political spectrum about birth rate decline and what it means for the economy.

One response to this decline is a cause that's been taken up by the right, and it has a name – Pronatalism. Many of its advocates met up recently in Austin, Texas, at "Natal Con."

Pronatalists think they have a friendly audience in the White House. How do they want to use it?

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