The pure unadulterated hatred Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) inspires from certain demographics is remarkable.
Last month, a clip of Vance talking about the impact of regulations on family formation went viral. Here is what he said during a 2023 Senate hearing:
“American families aren’t having enough children. I think there’s evidence that some of the things that we’re doing to parents is driving down the number of children that American families are having. In particular, there’s evidence that the car seat rules that we’ve imposed — which, of course, I want kids to drive in car seats — have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000. So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that’s accommodating to American families, and I encourage your organization to do that.”
To which, TikTok user @whattheactualkaren, whose profile brags about fostering 112 kittens, responded, “JD Vance. American Families aren’t having children because of car seat laws. Seriously.”
Cat lady Karen’s post received over 18,000 comments including, “Why is this guy obsessed with babies,” and, “OMG Yes! The $300 car seat has been the biggest deterrent. Not the $450 a week childcare,” and, “Handmaid’s Tale episodes unfolding.”
Except it turns out Vance is right. A 2020 study in the Journal of Law and Economics found that car seat regulations do, in fact, make it less likely parents will have more children. The problem is not the cost of the additional car seat. The authors of the study found that the regulation made it more likely couples would stop at two children and not have a third. This is because the cost in question was not a car seat, but the cost of a larger vehicle, like a minivan, to hold all three car seats.
The authors calculated that the car seat regulation caused 8,000 fewer births a year compared to just 57 traffic deaths prevented. Sounds like Vance was right. Maybe we are overregulating parents in a way that makes it harder for them to have the family size they want.
And it is not like Vance’s comments were some random thought about the relationship between fertility and car seats. The Senate hearing in question, where Vance made the comment, was about a proposed Federal Aviation Administration regulation, pushed by the Association of Flight Attendants union, that would have required children under 2 to be restrained in special seats during flights.
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So, the flight attendants union was proposing a new costly rule that would have made it more expensive for families to fly, thus making it even more likely that parents who want big families might be pushed to have smaller families. It seems Vance’s reference to the cost of car seats on family sizes was both true and insightful!
We understand that childless cat ladies will always hate Vance, but hopefully, they can try to make sure that their anger at him doesn’t also prevent the rest of us from reforming government in ways to make it easier for all people to build the families they want.