The recently resurfaced statement occurred during a March 2023 Senate Commerce Committee hearing about “Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity In Air Transportation.”
Vance: One thing that I really worry about, and I think both Democrats and Republicans should worry about, is we have some real demographic problems in our country. 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 and I encourage your organization to do that.
According to a 2019 study published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, child restraints save the lives of hundreds of children each year, including 325 children in 2017 and 334 children in 2016.
Like many previous claims made by Vance, his statements aren’t always backed by facts. Snopes found that his claim “possibly stemmed from a 2020 research paper about how parents view car seats, considering their price and other factors.” The paper, “Car Seats and Contraception,” from two finance professors, “appeared to advocate for ‘easing’ safety restrictions for car seats ‘to increase birthrates.’”
The commentary from Vance echoes other claims he has made that have attracted widespread criticism and led many Americans to characterize the candidate as “weird” (as 51% of respondents in a September poll for Daily Kos by Civiqs said).
In 2022, while running for his Senate seat, Vance said women who haven’t given birth are “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” and have “no direct stake” in the country.
A year before that, Vance offered the theory that the country is “being ruled by a childless elite,” adding, “they’re proud of the fact they don’t have kids. They think it’s bad if you have kids, they think it’s bad for the environment. They’re proud of their abortions. They shout their abortions from the rooftops.”
Vance also claimed in 2021 that “many of the leaders of the left” are “people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children.”
The Republican has also said that no-fault divorces should be ended, called for “federal action” to prevent women from crossing state borders to get an abortion, and called for going “to war” against the notion of women opting out of having children.
Vance’s stance on women and childbirth match his running mate Donald Trump, an admitted serial assaulter of women who has been found liable for sexual abuse, and who appointed half of the six Supreme Court justices that overturned abortion rights.
Vance and Trump’s views clash with the positions of Vice President Kamala Harris, who has promoted reproductive freedom. Harris’ views have led to a groundswell of popular support for her candidacy.
In her Sept. 10 endorsement of Harris, singer Taylor Swift noted, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”
Swift signed her Instagram message, “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”
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