Hillary Clinton criticizes pro-birth policies, says immigrants are key to US growth

Clinton made the remarks earlier this month during a talk hosted by the Newmark Civic Life Series in Manhattan. Video of the event has circulated widely on social media in recent days, with users pointing out how her comments appear to be a criticism of nuclear family values.

She pointed to the messaging coming from figures like Vice President JD Vance and businessman Elon Musk, who have both advocated for reversing America’s declining birthrate.

“This very blatant effort to basically send a message most exemplified by Vance and Musk, and others, that, you know, what we really need from you women are more children. And what that really means is you should go back to doing what you were born to do, which is to produce more children,” Clinton said.

Clinton seemingly tried to accuse Republicans of hypocrisy for promoting traditional family structures without endorsing a list of social programs that she believes support childrearing. She also tied the rhetoric to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” a policy agenda the Democratic Party tried to falsely link to Trump during the presidential election.

“This is another performance about concerns they allegedly have for family life, but if you had read the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, despite Trump saying he knew nothing about it, if you had read it, it's all in there. It's all in there,” Clinton claimed “Return to the family, the nuclear family, return to being a Christian nation, return to producing a lot of children — which is sort of odd because the people who produce the most children in our country are immigrants, and they want to deport them.”

She continued by defending immigration’s role in population growth and economic performance, saying, “One of the reasons why our economy did so much better than comparable advanced economies across the world is because we actually had a replenishment, because we had a lot of immigrants, legally and undocumented, who had a, you know, larger than normal by American standards, families."

“So this is just another one of their, you know, make America great again by returning to the lifestyles and the economic arrangements of not just the 1950s. I mean, let's keep going back as far as we can. And, you know, see what happens,” Clinton added.

Clinton’s comments reference remarks made by VP Vance at the March for Life rally after he took office, in which he said he wants “more babies” and “more happy children” in the US. In recent days, officials, including Vance and Musk, have pointed to the sharp decline in the country’s birth rate over the last decade.