Economic Crisis Will Have Ramifications For Decades To Come

Since the economic hurricane made landfall in the U.S., the response has been somewhat predictable.

Americans have slashed purchases of big ticket items such as cars and boats. They have cut back on spending for vacations, restaurant meals, and other discretionary items. They are repairing and recyling and trying to get the most out of what they already own. They are looking to pare down debt and save more of what they earn.

But things don’t end there. Many people are also making more fundamental adjustments in the patterns of their lives.

In “Report: Birth Rates Fall In Tough Economy,” CBS reveals that today’s hard times are spurring a demographic shift that will have ramifications for decades to come.

The recession is leaving some doctor’s offices empty. More women are putting motherhood on hold and recent reports show contraceptive sales are through the roof.

The data runs about two years behind, we won’t know for sure until 2011, but it appears that with the economic slowdown has come something of a pregnant pause.

We all know that children are not cheap.

“It’s a labor of love,” says one parent.

What’s love got to do with it? Many prospective parents are changing their plans when it comes to pregnancy. Planned Parenthood has seen an increase in patients, but they say economic effect is more because of lost jobs and health care.

CBS station KOVR-TV spoke with Carl Haub, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, who says the birth rate does appear to fall with economic declines. After the most recent recession in the early 1990s, the birth rate steadily declined through 1997, where it held relatively strong through 2006, the latest data available through the CDC.

After the Great Depression and the 1970s gas shortage, the nation saw record-lows in birth rates.

There are reports that health care facilities are offering free contraceptives and are seeing more taken, and that OBGYNs are seeing less business.

“No more kids,” says Lizett Rodriguez, who is a mother of a five-month-old.

Data on birth rates today isn’t the only trend suspected of changing, although numbers aren’t yet available, adoption and abortion rates could be figures to watch as well.

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