IT’S COME TO THIS: How Did Having Babies Become Right-Wing?
I suspect it was because I’m visibly pregnant.
On my way into the hall, I encountered ten protesters wearing surgical masks, all apparently in their early 20s. They were holding signs that declared, “NO Nazis in Austin!” and “Natalism Nazism,” and when they saw me approaching, several members screamed at me: “Nazi!”
When I clarified that I was not a Nazi, but a reporter, they calmed down, but I did wonder if it was my bump that had riled them up. I asked what they were doing here, and they identified themselves as members of Austin Students for a Democratic Society. The organizer of the protest, Arishia Papri, 20, was dressed in a fedora, purple suit, and bow tie; I asked him, “Is it fair to shout at attendees who have young children with them?”
“I think everyone who came to this, who’s coming to this, knows what they are here for,” he replied. “This is a conference of neo-Nazi, eugenic, racist, pseudoscientific ideologies.”
This was not, as it turned out, an accurate description of NatalCon, though it was certainly representative of the left’s reaction to it.
Established in 2023 by Kevin Dolan, a Mormon father of six and a conservative influencer, NatalCon is a response to the fact that, in America—as in dozens of nations across the world—the birth rate has fallen well below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. In 2023, U.S. fertility hit a historical low of 1.62. The strange thing is, it’s not that Americans don’t want babies: Men and women, of all demographics, consistently report wanting more kids than they ultimately have.
Isn’t everything right-wing these days?
According to the Grauniad, fitness is definitely right-wing:
