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By Marni Rose McFall
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Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, condemned the teen birth rate having declined in a recent post on X.
Miller shared a screenshot of a graph charting the birth rate decline in the U.S. by age group, that used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was published in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Pointing to the decline in the teen birth rate, Miller said that hormonal birth control is "killing population growth," and that "our biological destiny is to have babies."
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Why It Matters
Population crises and falling birth rates are a widespread problem, from America to China and Russia. Lower birth rates can result in an aging population, and it is believed that this correlates with economic challenges, placing greater strain on health care systems.
All over the world, though, people are plagued with uncertainty when it comes to having children, from geopolitical concerns to worries over climate change and financial instability.
And while there are significant concerns about population decline, some argue that the problematization of low birth rates is an issue in and of itself, as one of the main causes behind the decline is the rise in women’s rights, female autonomy and a woman’s right to choose.
Miller served as communications director for former Vice President Mike Pence. She and Stephen Miller married in 2020. They have three children together and are expecting a fourth child. She hosts a podcast aimed at Republican women, titled The Katie Miller podcast.
What To Know
"Since 2007, the teen birth rate has fallen 72%," Miller wrote. "Hormonal birth control isn’t just poison for women’s minds and bodies—it’s killing population growth."
She added: "For the first time ever, birth rates for women in their late 30s have surpassed those in their early 20s."
Fertility in the U.S. hit a record low in 2025, according to the recently released federal data that Miller shared. The teen birth rate fell by 7 percent last year, following a years long decline with the birthrate 15- to 19-year-olds now having fallen by nearly three quarters since 2007.
There are fewer teen moms in America too. In 1975, there were 599,926 teen births in the U.S., which is more than double the number of teen pregnancies recorded in 2024 (136,376), according to the U.N. Population Division.
And the teen births that do take place today tend to be among those who are 18 and 19, rather than 15 to 17, Elizabeth Wildsmith, a family demographer and sociologist at Child Trends, a nonpartisan research organization, previously told Newsweek.
The response to Miller’s post online was largely negative, with people shocked at her position.
Many believe the decline in teen pregnancies is a positive. Multiple factors have driven this, from a higher level of access to contraception to a general decline in sexual activity among teenagers.
What People Are Saying
Christina Punshaw, an aide to Florida’s Republican Governor Ron De Santis, in a post on X: "IMHO, it's good that the highest birthrate is age 30-34 and the lowest is now age 15-19. Teens should be in school, sports, going to prom, enjoying the end of their childhood! We do not just want "more births," we want more healthy strong FAMILIES: Married adult parents raising their children in a stable home."
Zaid Jilani, who writes The American Saga newsletter, in a post on X: "Why is Stephen Millers wife complaining that fewer teenagers are having babies? What is going on?"
Michael O’Brien, a pediatrician, in a post on X: "The wife of one of the president’s top advisors is concerned that not enough American TEENAGERS are getting pregnant…WTF???!!!!!!!!"
Sarah Higdon, a veteran and content creator, in a post on X: "I’m confused, is she actually lamenting the fact that teenagers are not getting pregnant? That’s actually a good thing. I have issues with hormonal birth control, but lowering the teenage pregnancy rate isn’t one of them. I tend to think people should have a fully formed pre-frontal cortex before having kids tbh."
What Happens Next
The Trump administration has made it clear it is concerned about America's low birth rates. A number of policies were passed at the beginning of 2025, aimed at addressing the issue. These included an executive order expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and a Department of Transportation directive to give precedence to "communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.
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