As U.S. birth rates decline, prominent conservatives have begun urging Americans to have more children, citing workforce needs and care for an aging population. That pro-natalist framing is now being used to justify new state restrictions on abortion.
At the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., J.D. Vance told attendees, “I want more babies in the United States of America.” In Wyoming, lawmakers passed a law banning abortions once there is “detectable fetal heartbeat,” a finding typically seen around six weeks of pregnancy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has criticized that language as “clinically inaccurate,” noting that early embryonic cardiac cells may show electrical activity long before structures exist that produce the familiar heartbeat.
The measure, temporarily blocked by a federal judge, prohibits abortions after cardiac activity is detected. Republican state lawmaker and former nurse Evie Brennan, a backer of the bill, defended it in demographic terms: “We’re sending a message that children are important and that they’re the future,” she said, adding that without a growing, younger population the state risks becoming “stagnant or an aging slash dying state.”
But demographers and public-health researchers say abortion bans are unlikely to reverse long-term population decline. Suzanne Bell, a demographer at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said such laws won’t fundamentally change fertility patterns. They can produce a short-term rise in births — researchers estimated Idaho saw about 240 excess births after a 2023 ban — but those gains can be offset by other harms. Idaho, for example, now has roughly 35% fewer OB-GYNs than before its law took effect, worsening access to care.
Wyoming has faced decades of population loss. Students at the University of Wyoming cite limited industry and few job opportunities as reasons many young people leave; a senior said many expect to move elsewhere for work. A Harvard Kennedy School working paper found that nearly two-thirds of Wyoming residents have left by their thirties, one of the country’s highest outmigration rates, with young people attracted to larger cities offering more economic and creative options. Researchers recommended investing in rural communities, diversifying the economy, and expanding housing to retain residents.
Brennan acknowledged the six-week ban is not a cure-all and said pro-life advocates must also pursue postnatal supports: “We have to send the message that not only are you important in utero, but you’re also important on day one when you’re born,” she said. Pro-abortion rights groups quickly challenged the law, and on April 24 a federal district court granted a temporary block, restoring access to abortion beyond six weeks while the court considers the law’s constitutionality. Any ruling could be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court, which earlier this year struck down two other sweeping abortion bans in the state.