What happens when human fertility wanes and we end up in a world without children? Will humanity on this planet survive?
A disturbing study published by the NY Post and recently shared on the Steve Quayle website forecasts a “mass extinction” that wipes out humanity as early as the year 2100. A second study conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reports a 50.3 per cent decline in human sperm production over the last few years.
Worldwide human extinction may not seem that threatening right now, but even in our present generation we are seeing smaller families and the birth of fewer babies. As the problem intensifies, population forecasters fear that children may one day become a celebrated rarity, neither seen nor heard.
Why has infertility become a global public health issue? Scientists and researchers attribute it to many and varied causes, from stress to environmental breakdown to food packaging chemicals. Even obesity has been named as a factor.
An eerily prophetic science fiction film set in London in 2006 called Children of Men depicts a future where the world is stricken with mass human infertility, and a science team works feverishly to save mankind from extinction. Over a period of 20 years, women have become infertile, and there are no children.
As the sounds of playgrounds all over the world fade to silence, despair sets in. “Very odd, what happens in a world without children’s voices,” one character laments. “I can’t really remember when I last had any hope. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what’s left to hope for?”
Although released almost a dozen years ago, the film has proved prophetic as we read today’s news headlines. In fact, an LA Times headline this week reads, “Americans keep having fewer babies as U.S. birthrates hit record lows.”
Citing figures reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, the article blames shrinking birthrates partly on the trend of millennials to delay marriage until their thirties, if they marry at all. The result is older mothers and fewer viable births.
“In order for a generation to replace itself, the fertility rate needs to be 2,100 births per 1,000 women, and despite population growth due to immigration, the U.S. has been missing that mark since 1971,” the Times pointed out.
Not only are couples marrying later, many are considering the economic disadvantages of having children and thinking twice about starting a family. Disregarding their Maker’s mandate in Genesis to “be fruitful and increase in number,” they are breaking away from the biblical idea that a house full of children is a blessing. In those Bible days, barrenness in women was considered a curse.
“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” Psalm 127:3,4
In today’s culture as families change in configuration and size, children are no longer a priority for many couples. The traditional nuclear family, composed of Mom, Dad and kids, is losing ground to a lifestyle more appealing to millennials. Seeking to be unhampered by domestic responsibilities, many couples happily choose another option—the child-free marriage.
Bernard Salt, a Melbourne-based demographer, has observed that many millennials defend childlessness as a lifestyle choice. They would rather spend the family income on travel and dining out than on cribs and diapers or private kids schools.
“With more singles and childless couples, you’ve got higher workforce participation and more household wealth which is not shared with many children,” he explained. “That household wealth can then be spent on what some would consider a better quality of life—education, travel, restaurants and housing.”
Australia’s Bureau of Statistics predicted on International Families Day this year that the typical family unit would become a minority, adding that by the year 2036 the country’s population would be composed of more childless “couple families” than those with children.
At the same time, some couples who do want children are faced with the fact of growing infertility, a problem that affects women over the globe.. The World Health Organization (WHO) calculates that more than 10 per cent of women worldwide are experiencing infertility, which amounts to some 6.7 million women. At the same time, health researchers and doctors caution that infertility isn’t just a woman’s problem. They cite evidence of a decline of sperm count among men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, indicating lower fertility and higher health risks.
Natural News points out other causes of male infertility, including exposure to chemicals like atrazine that are considered as “chemical castrators” of men, causing hormonal disruption that can lead to male feminization. Taking it a step further, the article suggests that such hormonal changes could lead more biological males to pursue transgender surgeries or lifestyles.
“Though the link between chemical castration and male feminism is a biological fact, the anti-science political Left in America insists that transgenderism is solely a “choice” and cannot be influenced by chemical exposure,”it reports.
According to Jim Daniels, CEO of a fertility support firm called CortControl, even stress can be a culprit in infertility for child-seeking couples. His firm has developed supplements to enhance fertility and help alleviate effects of stress in modern day life for both men and women..
“Infertility may result from compromised immune function due to elevated stress,” Daniels believes. “It is estimated to play a role in up to 30 per cent of all fertility problems.”
According to some articles on the net, even obesity can be linked to the growing number of couples experiencing infertility. A recent HuffPost blog called obesity “one of the most common causes of infertility in this country.”
“It is a proven fact that women who are above a healthy weight tend to have hormonal imbalances, linked to infertility and miscarriages,” the writer reported. “At the same time, men who are obese often suffer from issues such as low sperm count and reduced levels of testosterone.”
But physical problems alone will not account for a future bereft of children. Consider societal factors resulting from the sexual revolution of the Sixties and Seventies, paving the way for the LBGT movement, gender neutrality and same-sex marriage. At the same time, the feminist movement has pushed to legalize abortion, making pregnancy a woman’s “problem.”
What, then, are the options for childless couples who really want children? They may resort to involved procedures and regimens like In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), or sperm Injections that Parent Magazine called expensive and physically demanding. Either way, the magazine summary shows that such treatments only have a success rate of about 35 percent.
But if mankind can’t cure the infertility problem, the Bible presents another option: prayer. Divine intervention worked for Hannah, who was barren and promised God the dedication of her son if he would bless her with children.
Hannah’s joy in the answer is expressed in her prayer in the second chapter of Samuel as she exults, “She who was barren has borne seven children.”
Women like Hannah who have experienced answers to their prayers for children can testify that God still blesses his word and desires for mankind to “be fruitful and increase in number; to fill the earth and subdue it.” Genesis 1:28
“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap…he settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.” Psalm 113:9.
Cinefix calls 'Children of Men' one of the top 10 science fiction movies of all time.
The views expressed by story contributors to All News Pipeline are their own and do not always align completely with those of ANP.
