For young, secular, politically progressive men and women, having children has become something of an afterthought. Indeed, the data suggest that people are having children later than they used to and are having fewer than they’d like. Unreserved enthusiasm for having children can come across as essentially reactionary. Over the past four years, we’ve conducted interviews and surveys with hundreds of young Americans about their attitudes toward having children. If they are not, they face a choice of returning to the dating pool, freezing their eggs (if they haven’t done so already), single parenting or giving up their hope of having kids of their own.

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