America’s fertility rate dropped to a historic low: govfacts.org reported in December 2025 the fertility rate is 1.6 children per woman, well below the 2.1 per woman level needed to maintain the current population(without immigration). The rising cost of living-childcare, education, housing-all contribute to a falling birth rate. Furthermore, social norms and shifting priorities , people marrying later or not at all, and concerns about the future (climate change, political instability) also play a part.

The most telling reason , though, is women making a conscious decision to remain child free. Why? Let’s talk about it. Recently,CNN reported about a rape academy, a site where men are shown “how to’s” on how to drug and subsequently rape their partners. According to the report, 62 million men clicked on this site. Before you come at me with “that many men didn’t actually view the tutorial,” and “it’s not all men,” the fact that this EXISTS and men actively SEARCHED for it is the problem. It’s all men until it’s NO men. The porn site motherless.com is home to more than 20,000 videos of what is termed “sleep content,” with hundreds of thousands of views (Saskya Vandoorne, et al, 3-25-26, CNN archives).

Why didn’t mainstream media report on this more widely? It seems news outlets such as yahoo.com were more focused on the visits part vs the actual number of men who viewed instructions and content. Violence against women and young girls isn’t restricted to the “rape academy.” Just this week a 15 year old girl in East Harlem was slammed onto the pavement by a 14 year old boy for not giving him her telephone number. According to an FBI report from February of 2026 , law enforcement reported more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims and an additional 1.1 million victims of domestic violence, with nearly 75% of the victims being female. (FBI.gov, 2/11/26).

What is fueling the unbridled violence against girls and women?

Social media and contagious, unrestricted misogynistic content are probably responsible for a lot of it.Is it any wonder women are choosing to remain single and child free? Especially when they are educated and have the means to support themselves comfortably. As a society we have a responsibility to do better for our children and grandchildren. Everyone should be outraged by these recent events. What are we waiting for?

SHARON ABRACZINSKAS

Bloomsburg

Submitted by Virtual Newsroom