Today, about 20% of American women beyond their childbearing years never had children compared to about 10% in the 1970s. The birthrate in the U.S. is the lowest in recorded history. This story explores how cultural and personal forces may be affecting this trend and, chiefly, how and why women may have changed their outlook on maternity. Pamela Smock notes that recent falling fertility rates are often attributed to women’s choices and that, in particular, “childlessness defaults to women, in all scholarship in the social sciences.”

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