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Are you one of the 30 percent of Americans who are, according to Dr. Oz, \u201cunderbabied\u201d? Unfortunately, he does not mean \u201cunderbabied\u201d in the sense that you\u2019re being insufficiently pampered (you and I both, friend). During a White House event on Monday, Dr. Oz<\/a> defined underbabied as having fewer children than you\u2019d like or having no children at all. (The term didn\u2019t catch on the first time Oz tried to make it happen in October 2025<\/a>, so it\u2019s unclear why he imagines it will take off now.) Since 2.1 children per woman<\/a> is the generally accepted fertility rate required to maintain a stable population, I suppose having two or more kids could be termed \u201cadequately babied.\u201d I wonder what number of children would qualify a person as \u201coverbabied.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re way below what we need just to replace the people that we have in America,\u201d Dr. Oz said, going on to plug the Trump administration\u2019s new website for discounted drugs including fertility medications. Oz predicted that, thanks to such efforts, there will be a wave of \u201cTrump babies\u201d in the near future. \u201cYou have to get moms healthy enough to do the most creative thing the universe knows,\u201d he continued, \u201cwhich is making babies.\u201d Nowhere did Oz mention child-care costs<\/a> or paid parental leave.<\/p>\n It is true that fertility rates in the United States<\/a> have fallen below that 2.1 replacement level and are now at historic lows<\/a>. However, this lacks some important context. A large part of the drop in fertility rates is due to the rapidly declining rate of teen pregnancies<\/a>, which fell by 7 percent in 2025. Simultaneously, fertility rates among women in their 30s and 40s have been rising, and more women are having children in their late 40s<\/a> than ever before.<\/p>\n Regardless, if Dr. Oz wants to get America sufficiently \u201cbabied,\u201d I suspect it\u2019s going to take a lot more than markdowns on Clomid to get us there.<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n The latest in style, self, culture, and power in your inbox.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n