RFK Jr. Claims ‘Our Parents Aren’t Having Children’ in Oval Office Fertility Rant

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised eyebrows with his remarks about fertility during a Thursday, Oct. 16, press conference alongside President Donald Trump.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services joined Trump in the Oval Office to announce the administration’s new plan to make in vitro fertilization more accessible by urging pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of fertility medications.

“We’ll dramatically slash the cost of IVF and many of the most common fertility drugs for countless millions of Americans,” Trump said. “Prices are going way down, way, way down.”

But it was Kennedy’s comments that quickly went viral. The HHS leader expressed concern over the state of fertility in the U.S., claiming, “Our parents aren’t having children.”

“Today, the average teenager in this country has 50% of the sperm count, 50% of the testosterone as a 65-year-old man,” Kennedy, 71, said. “Our girls are hitting puberty six years earlier, and that’s bad, but also our parents aren’t having children. Parents who want to have children do not have access. I have seven children. I feel that God has blessed me with that, and I can’t imagine how different my life would be if I did not have that blessing.”

American male virility has been a recurring topic for Kennedy, who made similar claims earlier this year while campaigning against artificial food dyes.

“Seventy-four percent of our kids cannot qualify for military service,” he said during an April interview with Fox News. “We have fertility rates that are just spiraling. A teenager today — an American teenager — has less testosterone than a 68-year-old man. Sperm counts are down 50%.”

While some research has suggested that sperm counts have declined globally due to environmental and lifestyle factors, the scientific community remains divided.

In July, reproductive urologist Dr. Scott Lundy told NBC News that male fertility is “a very contentious issue in our field.”

“For every paper that you find that suggests a decline and raises an alarm for this issue, there’s another paper that says that the numbers aren’t changing, and that there’s no cause for concern,” he explained.

IVF has remained a flashpoint in national politics since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last year that frozen embryos could be legally considered children. The decision created panic across fertility clinics, as it opened the door to potential criminal charges over embryo handling errors.

Despite touting his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, Trump has since positioned himself as a strong supporter of IVF access — even calling himself the “father of IVF” during an October 2024 town hall.

“We really are the party for IVF,” Trump said, according to CNN. “We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favor.”

At the time, then–Vice President Kamala Harris reacted in a post on X, writing, “What is he talking about?”

Speaking later with reporters, she elaborated: “What [Trump] should take responsibility for is that couples who are praying, hoping and working toward growing a family have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that IVF treatments have now been put at risk.”

“Let’s not be distracted by his choice of words,” she added. “The reality is actually very harmful to women and families in America.”