Two Senate Republicans will introduce legislation to promote a holistic approach to healing infertility.
Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and James Lankford, R-Okla., will introduce the Reproductive Empowerment and Support Through Optimal Restoration (RESTORE) Act on Thursday to address underlying causes of infertility like endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., and Riley Moore, R-W.Va., are introducing a House companion measure.
The U.S. birth rate has been on a downward slide since the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. In 2024, the total fertility rate went up slightly, though, but still by less than 1%. The total projected number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime is now 1.63, which is slightly above the 2023 projection, but still well below the population replacement rate of 2.1.