CDC Data Shows Fertility Rate in America at an All Time Low

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Public health data released last week shows the fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low last year.

Over the past 20 years, the number of children born each year in the U.S. has dropped significantly, and the total fertility rate in the U.S. is well below the replacement rate — meaning America’s population is declining.

The CDC’s latest statistical data shows births in the U.S. declined by 1% from 2024 to 2025 — reaching record laws. The Congressional Budget Office projects that by the year 2030 there will be more deaths than births in America. The CBO suggests bolstering the U.S. population through immigration, but even at that, it believes America will stop growing by the year 2056.

Back in 2024, Pew Research Center found nearly half of adults under 50 in America don’t plan to have children. That’s a sharp change from 2018, when 61% of adults under 50 said they planned to have children someday.

Last fall, Pew also released a survey showing that most Americans believe it would hurt the U.S. in the future if fewer people have kids. In other words, most Americans understand that the U.S.’s declining birthrate is going to be a problem in the future.

All of this underscores how our society seems to view children as, at best, an accessory, and, at worst, a burden.

Society doesn’t treat children like they are a blessing from the Lord. Instead, people have been told that children will somehow stop them from doing what they want.

The truth is, children are good for society. We’ve seen in other countries how low birth rates hurt the economy, contribute to labor shortages, and make it harder to care for the elderly.

In 2020, a Chinese Communist Party official admitted the country needed to do more to raise its birthrate in order to “meet labor demands.” The situation in China has only gotten worse since then.

But more than just being good for society, children are a blessing. Children are an incredible responsibility, but they’re also an incredible joy. As John Stonestreet once said, “Every person bears the image of God, so whenever families produce children, they mirror God to the world. Sure kids are sometimes irritating, but they’re often hilarious, and they always remind us that life isn’t about ourselves.”

That’s a message more Americans should take to heart.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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The Bible Does Not Support Abortion: Guest Column

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In February, James Talarico, a U.S. Senate candidate from Texas, claimed that the biblical story of the Annunciation from the Gospel of Luke supports his proabortion position. On the Joe Rogan podcast, Talarico asserted that because the angel sought Mary’s consent, a woman has a right to choose her own procreative destiny. 

The most obvious flaw with this assertion is that the angel did not ask Mary’s permission. In fact, the angel of the Lord said, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Mary submits to accept God’s will, but the only person with questions in that conversation was Mary. The angel declared what was going to happen. Mary was humbled and accepted it as the calling on her life. 

The deeper flaw in this and most other proabortion arguments is the assumption that whatever is in the womb is not a human life worth protecting. The inherent value of life in the womb—as evident throughout Scripture from Psalms to Jeremiah to Isaiah to Job to Joshua–is something Christians have insisted upon since the earliest days of the Church. To deny that theological reality, as Talarico did, is also to commit a Christological heresy. In the same chapter in Luke, Elizabeth declared that her baby, who was John the Baptist, leapt in her womb when he heard the voice of “the mother of her Lord.” In other words, both John in the womb and Elizabeth out of the womb sensed that the Lord was present though still in His mother’s womb.  

Other passages of Scripture that are wrongly used to argue for abortion include Exodus 21. In the middle of several laws covering violent crimes, the text reads, “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined.” If there is harm, the passage continues, then there is a harsh penalty.  

Pro-abortionists argue in this passage that only harm to the woman matters and the child is not as valuable. However, the more reasonable interpretation is if,because of a fight, a woman goes into premature labor and the baby lives, then “there is no harm.” Thus, there’s a financial penalty. If the baby dies or is injured—“if there is harm”—the attacker should face punishment up to death. 

Another example is Numbers 5. In a list of rules, Moses provided a test for a husband’s claim of his wife’s unfaithfulness. The accused woman was to take an oath of innocence and drink a mix of water and dirt from the tabernacle floor. If innocent, nothing would happen. If guilty, then, among other things, she would become infertile. 

It is a strange passage, and theologians differ on how best to understand it. Some suggest it is a psycho-somatic test to root out a woman’s guilty conscience. Others think it a sneaky way for a defenseless woman to escape her husband’s jealousy. Pro-abortionists assert that it is an example of an abortion ordered by God’s law. For that to be the case, however, the punishment would involve the death of a baby. However, the curse reference here is not the ending of a current pregnancy but the prevention of future ones. 

These etymological gymnastics attempts aside, the Bible is consistent. Human life is sacred. In the womb, babies are valued, purposed, and yes, human. Throughout the biblical text, including war and sacrifice as in Leviticus, 2 Kings, or Jeremiah, the worst crimes and horrors someone can commit are to murder children. In no way does God’s Word dismiss, much less justify, the slaughter of the innocent. 

Contrary to Talarico’s claim, the message of Annunciation Day is not that life and death is left to our choice. Rather, it is in God’s hands. Even in the womb of His mother, Jesus Christ was the Messiah, fully God and fully human. Even in the womb of our mothers, we are fully human, in God’s image.

Copyright 2026 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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Fewer Pastors Considering Quitting Ministry, Research Shows

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Pastoral burnout in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic caused many to consider quitting ministry, but recent research shows that may be changing.

According to Barna’s latest data, 24% of Protestant senior pastors say they have seriously considered quitting full-time ministry in the past year. While that number is still concerning, it’s down considerably from peak levels a few years ago, when two out of every five pastors said they had considered quitting.

Barna notes that the pandemic years hit pastors hard. Church closures, public health mandates, changes in ministry models, and political division within congregations created a perfect storm for many ministers. Pastors nationwide often faced exhaustion and conflict with very little support.

The good news is that pressure appears to be easing in many cases. Arkansas’ churches can learn from this data. Believers and their families should pray for their pastors and find practical ways to encourage them. Supporting our pastors isn’t just a nice thing to do—it’s essential for healthy churches.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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