Trump’s efforts to boost birthrates (probably) aren’t going to work. Neither are anybody else’s.

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I am a single, 47-year-old relationship writer who’s never wanted kids, so, as you can imagine, I have been reading recent stories about declining birthrates, in the US and worldwide, with great interest — and many opinions.

I’ve never been “mom material” — I am built to be a fun and supportive aunt-type — but I want to live in a world where people who want children can have them, support them, and keep them (and themselves) healthy.

As you probably know, there’s been a lot of talk about why people aren’t having children, and why the birthrate is plummeting globally. It’s especially low in Massachusetts.

The problem with that? The world’s population is aging. We need workers and caregivers.

Not everyone can be like me. Childless cat ladies like myself (actually, I’m allergic — to cats, not children) count on everybody else having kids, and most of us are happy to lend a hand as they do it.

There are plenty of people who want kids, but see barriers to having them. Globe business reporter Dana Gerber wrote a fantastic story last week about local women who would have children — or more children — if they had the money to support them comfortably.

The current administration’s proposed solutions to this problem make me feel like I’m watching “The Handmaid’s Tale,” of course. The Trump administration is considering giving women $5,000 to have kids, and a “National Medal of Motherhood” for those who have six or more.

I hate all of that, but I will say that from my vantage point, no government or administration seems to be asking the right questions when it comes to falling birthrates and how to deal with them.

In South Korea, for instance, which has had the lowest global birthrate since 2013, some local leaders have gone into the matchmaking business. In Seongnam city, just southeast of Seoul, Mayor Shin Sang-Jin has made headlines for hosting parties for singles. He hopes the events will help people fall in love so that they get married and have babies.

We did a whole podcast episode about this at Love Letters. I highly recommend listening.

I do not like the idea of a city butting into people’s love lives (although I’ll admit, the initiative did seem to be helping people find partners). But I especially didn’t like the mayor’s plan to go into school classes to teach young kids the message that, as he put it to me, “marriage is a blessing and childbirth is happiness.” It sounded like brainwashing. And while marriage and kids can be lovely, so is being single in a clean apartment.

South Korea’s birthrate did increase in 2024, slightly. I suspect this has something to do with more companies offering better benefits to parents. What Mayor Shin seemed to miss, on a more global level, are the many reasons why girls and women feel like marriage and children can be an unpleasant path. There can be a loss of freedom; the gender division of labor at home is still lopsided.

That’s a big issue in the US, too.

While reporting a new story about how COVID-19 changed the marriage and divorce rate in Massachusetts and the US (spoiler: it really didn’t), I learned that not only are adults feeling “meh” about marriage and kids, so are young people. Sociologists at Bowling Green State University who study family trends told me that high school seniors seem less inclined to get married and have kids than ever.

Corrine Wiborg, who presented a paper at the recent annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Washington, D.C., said this trend started in 2015, with more and more high school seniors saying they’re unsure that marriage and children will be part of their future.

This comes from the Monitoring the Future study, which has asked students the same set of questions since the 1970s, to see if their attitudes change over time. Wiborg said the latest data leaves her with more questions. She’d like to know, for example, whether teens might be interested in having children without getting married.

I’d also like to know more about what young people want and how we can help them find it. The answers to those questions might produce better solutions than brainwashing students or $5,000 bribes, and actually show us a path to the future.

If you’d like to try my Love Letters newsletter, you can subscribe here.

🧩 4 Across: Cat call| 😶‍🌫️ 76º Unsettled

Boston and New England

• Karen Read: The doctor who autopsied John O’Keefe called his head wound “severe,” but said she’d been unable to determine how he died.
• Walkout: Nurses and staff went on strike at Butler Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Providence. They want better pay, more staff, and a response to rising attacks from patients.
• Bear necessities: To cull a growing population of black bears, Massachusetts regulators voted to expand hunting season. Governor Maura Healey must still agree to the change.
• Looks familiar: The CEO of Baystate Health, Western Massachusetts’ biggest health system, writes a weekly blog for employees. He regularly plagiarized from news articles.
• New building: Lego executives — joined by Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and people dressed like toy minifigures — cut the ribbon on the company’s North American headquarters in the Back Bay.
• Surprise discount: In 1946, Harvard bought a copy of the Magna Carta for $27.50. It turns out to be an original worth millions.
• Mayoral race: Wu and Josh Kraft traded criticisms at a candidate forum that included their two lesser-known rivals. Asked which ward he lived in, Kraft answered, “I’m embarrassed to say, I don’t know.”

Trump administration

• Supreme Court: During arguments, the justices sounded inclined to block Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship while also scaling back lower courts’ power to block his policies nationwide.
• Trump’s agenda: Conservative House Republicans threatened to block Trump’s tax bill from advancing today because they want it to cut Medicaid sooner. (Politico)
• Kseniia Petrova: A judge ordered federal authorities to transfer a Harvard cancer researcher back to Massachusetts to face charges that she smuggling frog embryos into the US. The administration is trying to deport her to Russia.
• Violent arrest: A Guatemalan native whose car window was smashed in by ICE agents during his arrest in New Bedford last month was released on bail.
• No deal: Immigrant rights groups want Governor Healey to ban police throughout Massachusetts from cooperating with ICE to enforce immigration law.
• Higher power: After officials in Weare, N.H. cracked down on a backyard church, the church sued the town. Trump’s Justice Department is lending it support.

The Nation

• Another airport outage: Air traffic controllers in Denver lost contact with planes for 90 seconds this week, similar to recent equipment failures at Newark airport. (Denver Post)
• Diddy trial: Sean Combs’ defense lawyers cross-examined the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, trying to portray the music mogul’s ex-girlfriend as a willing participant in his drug-fueled orgies. (NBC)
• UnitedHealth Group: The health insurance giant’s stock price slid after it abruptly replaced its CEO this week and the Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department is investigating it for possible Medicare fraud. (WSJ)
• WNBA: The season starts tonight. Here’s a guide to the league’s new coaches and possible award winners.

Is the new Copley Square an eyesore?

• Yes, says the Globe’s Editorial Board. The park needed renovating, but the new design has turned its inviting lawn into “a bleak, soulless plaza of gray paving stones.”
• Be patient, counters MassLive’s John L. Micek. The sleek new space makes room for music performances and, maybe, a beer garden. And the city says more greenery is coming.

By Teresa Hanafin

✈️ Um, excuse me: Airplane seat squatters, a new breed of bold and brazen passengers who grab better seats that aren’t theirs, are proliferating.

🚚 Helping hand: Her DoorDash order was delivered by her former teacher who needed extra money for bills. So she raised more than $41,000 for him.

💘 Blind date: They both are scientists and even have similar hair. But was there chemistry?

📺 Weekend streaming: “Paddington in Peru,” season 7 of “The Chi,” the latest season of “Nine Perfect Strangers,” and more weekend streaming picks.

🎵 US debut: During the Boston Early Music Festival, the Boston Camerata will perform a timely program about kingship, tyranny, and abuses of power.

Thanks for reading Starting Point.

This newsletter was edited by Teresa Hanafin and produced by Diamond Naga Siu and Ryan Orlecki.

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