The problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15-19, the fertility rate is down 70% in the last 2 decades, which means we are telling people who are young not to have babies.

Teen fertility has fallen sharply over the past two decades, but the cited reports do not establish that society is “telling” young people not to have babies, nor that fewer teen births are the cause of broader fertility concerns.

At a glance

Key Evidence

Verified September 1, 2026

The provided reports consistently attribute a roughly 70% two-decade decline in the 15-to-19 fertility rate to Marc Siegel, although no underlying statistical release is included.
The reports also indicate that Siegel referred to a separate recent decline of 7%, a distinction that is blurred in some reproduced versions of the quote.
Nothing in the supplied evidence demonstrates that public advice against teen childbearing caused the decline, or that the decline is the principal cause of overall fertility changes.

The reporting

What the Evidence Shows

The quoted figure is attributed to Marc Siegel, a Fox News senior medical analyst, who said on air that the fertility rate for 15- to 19-year-olds had fallen by 70% over two decades. Several April 2026 reports reproduced or described that remark, while The New York Times repeated the broader point in a May 2026 opinion column. The supplied material does not include the underlying government dataset or the exact years, denominator, or measure used to calculate the 70% figure, so the statistic itself cannot be independently checked from these sources alone.nytimes.com the-independent.com +3 more