The Fertilization President Wants My Womb | by Helena ‘Ellie’ Huizenga
I’m pregnant with my second child, and I find myself dragged into a national policy debate I never signed up for.
At a Women’s History Month event in March, Donald Trump dubbed himself “the Fertilization President,” and proudly claimed that “everybody has a baby when I’m around.” It was classic Trump, equal parts theatrical and delusional. But it wasn’t just a random comment to forget and move past. It’s intentional branding. And like all branding, it has purpose. This pro-natalist rhetoric reinforces a worldview where a woman’s value is based on reproduction, and having children is necessary for a nation’s survival.
I’m pregnant with my second child, and I find myself dragged into a national policy debate I never signed up for. Suddenly, my body, my choices, and even my unborn child have become symbols in a growing political campaign to get women to have more babies.
This growing push to encourage higher birth rates isn’t new. We’ve seen it before; it’s part of a broad, calculated movement known as pro-natalism. Pro-natalism is the belief that population growth is essential to a nation’s strength and survival. Across history, societies have framed childbirth as both a moral obligation and a civic duty. For example, in empires like Rome and Imperial China, large families were seen as a way to produce more soldiers and farmers, and indoctrinate loyal citizens.
That same logic endured into the 1900s. During WWII, pro-natalism found renewed support in multiple countries. In the Soviet Union, declining birth rates and the massive loss of men prompted the government to reverse abortion rights. A 1936 decree framed childbirth as a civic duty necessary for national stability. Women who gave birth to 10 children received stipends, medals, and public recognition—a policy Putin has recently revived. Yet the 1936 policy spurred a rise in unsafe, illegal abortions and left more children in orphanages, even though their parents were still alive.
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