Ed.
note:
Please
welcome
Vivia
Chen
back
to
the
pages
of
Above
the
Law.
Subscribe
to
her
Substack,
“The
Ex-Careerist,” here.
CONTRARY
TO
WHAT
YOU’VE
BEEN
FORCED-FED
by
the
likes
of
JD
Vance,
it’s
not
those career-obsessed
cat
ladies who
are
the
culprits
behind
America’s
decline
in
birthrates.
The
truth
is
that
women
simply
are
having
fewer
children,
and
there’s
not
much
that
will
change
that
trend,
short
of
enforced
childbearing.
(Let’s
not
think
about
that
–
yet.)
It’s
happening
not
just
in
the
U.S.
but
throughout
the
world.
According
to
recent research
from
the
United
Nations,
the
average
woman
had
five
children
in
1960;
today
that
figure
is
2.2
–
the
lowest
number
recorded
thus
far.
And
in
the
U.S.,
that
number
is
even
lower
–
1.6
–
and
we
probably
haven’t
hit
bottom.
In
every
state
the
birthrate
is
falling,
though
New
Jersey
stands
out
for
having
the
smallest
decline.
(Is
New
Jersey
more
conducive
to
baby-making?)
how
New
Jersey
stands
out
for
having
the
smallest
decline
in
birth
rate.
(chart:
The
Economist)
But
what
should
really
alarm
American
pro-natalists,
reports
The
Economist,
is
where
the
birthrate
is
falling
most
sharply:
Alaska,
North
Dakota,
and
Utah
–
states
that
have
been
historically
the
most
fertile.
“All
told,
states
that
had
above
average
fertility
rates
in
2014
are
responsible
for
more
than
80%
of
the
collapse
in
American
birth
rates
over
the
past
decade,”
notes
The
Economist.
That
means
you
can’t
rely
on
women
in
the
red
states to
pump
out
more
babies.
“Troublingly
for
such
policymakers,
the
recent
fall
in
birth
rates
is
concentrated
in
rural
parts
of
the
country
and
places
where
people
tend
to
have
less
education,”
says
The
Economist.
Even
in
a
place
like
religious
Utah,
women
aren’t
producing
babies
like
they
used
to.
“Whereas
in
2005
most
women
in
Utah
had
their
first
child
before
the
age
of
25,
today
fewer
than
one
in
four
do.”
So
what’s
causing
this
trend?
The
right
will
blame
bad
morals
(again,
cue
the
miserable,
selfish
career
gal),
while
the
left
will
point
to
the
lack
of
government
support
for
working
parents.
What
the
U.S.
offers
in
family
support
is
paltry (woefully
so,
compared
to
other
wealthy
countries),
but
will
better
benefits
fix
the
problem?
It’s
questionable.
Even
in
countries
with
generous
parental
leave,
subsidized
child
care,
and
free
education
and
health
care,
birthrates
remain
stubbornly
low.
Finland,
for
example,
offers
all
of
the
above,
yet
its
birthrate
hovers
around
1.3.
There’s
no
single
reason
for
this
trend
but
I
suspect
women’s
access
to
birth
control,
being
active
in
the
workforce
(also
connected
to
birth
control,
I
think)
and
just
having
more
autonomy
than
their
mothers
have
a
lot
to
do
with
it.
So
JD
Vance
can
issue
edicts
until
he
turns
purple
(“I
want
more
babies
in
the
United
States
of
America!”
he
hollered
at
an
anti-abortion
rally),
but
women
will
do
what
they
want.
Frankly,
I
don’t
see
anything
wrong
with
that.
Do
you?
Odds
and
Ends:
Americans
strongly
condemn
adultery
–
in
theory. According
to
Gallup,
a
whopping 89%
say
adultery is
“morally
wrong.”
(Only
8%
said
it
was
OK,
while
the
remainder
weren’t
sure.)
But
that
doesn’t
mean
Americans
aren’t
sinning.
According
to Techopedia,
16%
of
married
individuals
admit
to
cheating,
though
other
sources
put
that
figure
at
20%
to
40%.
(There’s
apparently
no
reliable
figure,
because,
well,
people
lie
about
cheating.)
But
the
real
kicker
is
that
Americans
top
the
league
table
of
countries
with
the
most
cheaters,
followed
by
Germany,
the
UK,
Brazil,
and
France.
How
is
it
possible
that
Italy
didn’t
make
that
list?
This
94-year
old
won’t
be
pushed
around
by
Trump. Remember
how
Trump
insisted
that
Rupert
Murdoch
be
deposed
ASAP
because
he
could
drop
dead
any
minute?
(The
prez
is
suing
Murdoch
for
defamation
for
publishing
a
recent
article
in
the
Wall
Street
Journal
that
alleged
Trump
had
sent
Epstein
a
raunchy
birthday
card
in
2003.)
Well,
Murdoch
won’t
be
sitting
for
any
deposition
unless
he’s
good
and
ready.
He
just
struck
a deal to
give
Trump
“a
sworn
declaration
describing
his
current
health
condition,”
plus
“regularly
scheduled
updates”
about
his
health,
that
postpones
his
deposition
until
goodness
knows
when.
A
personal
coda. Cameron
Stracher’s
recent
op-ed
in
New
York
Times,
“I
Helped
Bury
Stories
About
Trump.
I
Regret
It,”
stopped
me
in
my
tracks.
I
worked
with
Stracher
at
The
American
Lawyer
in
the
early
2000s
and
liked
him.
But
in
2018,
I
learned
that
he
was
part
of
the
legal
machinery
that
buried
unfavorable
stories
about
Trump’s
various
sexual
liaisons.
At
the
time,
he
was
general
counsel
of
American
Media,
the
owner
of
The
National
Enquirer.
So
I
wrote
a
critical
post
(“The
Lawyer
as
Pimp”)
about
lawyers
who
cleaned
up
after
Trump,
and
I
mentioned
Stracher’s
role.
He
didn’t
take
kindly
to
my
post
and
threatened
to
sue
me.
But
apparently,
he
had
doubts
all
along.
That’s
a
relief.
Subscribe
to
read
more
at
The
Ex-Careerist….
Vivia
Chen writes “The
Ex-Careerist” column
on
Substack
where
she
unleashes
her
unvarnished
views
about
the
intersection
of
work,
life,
and
politics.
A
former
lawyer,
she
was
an
opinion
columnist
at
Bloomberg
Law
and
The
American
Lawyer.
Subscribe
to
her
Substack
by
clicking
here:
