Fox senior medical analyst says that part of the fertility rate “problem” in the country is fewer teen pregnancies
Marc Siegel: “The problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15-19 the fertility rate is down 7% and it's down 70% over the last two decades, meaning we're telling people that are young not to have babies.”
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From the April 10, 2026, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom
DANA PERINO (FOX HOST): Well, new data from the CDC shows the U.S. fertility rate reached another record low last year, only 53.1 births per 1000 women aged 15-44. So that continues a nearly two decade long trend. Let's bring in Dr. Marc Siegel Fox News Senior Medical Analyst and, of course, the author of the most amazing book The Miracles Among Us. Okay here's the fertility charges so everybody can see this. I don't think this trend is not going to be a big surprise to people but the numbers might feel a little shocking. How do you see it.
MARC SIEGEL (FOX SENIOR MEDICAL ANALYST): Absolutely. We still have 3.6 million births a year, but the problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15-19 the fertility rate is down 7% and it's down 70% over the last two decades, meaning we're telling people that are young not to have babies, to wait until they're in a more stable life situation, till they're more financially secure, maybe they haven't found the right partner. To your point by the way, you said before we came on the air something really really important, which is we also have the technology to say, okay, wait, you're still going to have a healthy child. You're still going to be fine because we can support pregnancies much better than we ever have before. Of course I want to add to that some downsides. There's a higher obesity rate that interferes with fertility, there's a risk of polycystic ovaries and endometriosis there are more overall medical problems and diets are worse, and then we're talking about all the chemicals in the environment, ultra processed foods. You might want to have a kid but maybe as you get older you might not be able to. My wife, by the way, when she was 36 years old was going to have our second kid and I said to her obstetrician, she must be your oldest patient. He said she's my youngest patient. Dana, people are having kids in their 30s now, not their 20s. And again, that's leading to one thing I want to point out, the replacement rate is down to 1.56, meaning every couple is having, on average, 1.56 children in the United States. We need two or above to keep the population at the same amount.