Vance is driving Democrats crazy over car seats

Last month, a clip of Vance talking about the impact of regulations on family formation appeared online. Here’s what he said during his 2023 Senate hearing:

“American families don’t have enough children. I think there is evidence that some of the things we do to parents reduce the number of children born into American families. In particular, there is evidence that the car seat laws we have imposed – which of course I want children to be in seats – have resulted in a drop of over 100,000 in the number of babies born in this country. So when we think about how we can keep children safe here , I believe we should do this in a way that is friendly to American families, and I encourage your organization to do so.”

To which TikTok user @whattheactualkaren, whose profile boasts of having raised 112 kittens, replied: “JD Vance. American families don’t have children because of car seat laws. Seriously.”

Cat Lady Karen’s post received over 18,000 comments, including: “Why is this guy obsessed with babies” and “OMG Yes! The biggest obstacle is the $300 car seat. Wrong $450 a Week Child Care” and “The Handmaid’s Tale Episodes.”

Except, it turns out, Vance is right. A study conducted in 2020 in Journal of Law and Economics found that car seat laws actually make parents less likely to have more children. The problem is not the cost of an additional car seat. The study authors found that the regulation increased the likelihood that couples would stop at having two children and not have a third. This is because the cost in question was not the car seat, but the cost of a larger vehicle, such as a minivan, that accommodates all three car seats.

The authors calculated that car seat regulations reduced the number of births by 8,000 per year, compared to just 57 cases in which road traffic deaths were avoided. Looks like Vance was right. We may be over-regulating parents in ways that make it harder for them to have the family size they want.

And it’s not like Vance’s comments were random thoughts about the connection between fertility and car seats. The Senate hearing at which Vance made this comment concerned a proposed Federal Aviation Administration regulation, pushed by the Association of Flight Attendants union, that would require children under 2 years of age to be restrained in special seats on flights.

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So the flight attendants union has proposed a costly new rule that would raise the cost of air travel for families, making it even more likely that parents who want a large family will be forced to have smaller families. It looks like Vance’s mention of the cost of car seats for the entire family was both true and revealing!

We understand that the childless cat ladies will always hate Vance, but hopefully they can try to make sure their anger at him doesn’t prevent the rest of us from reforming the government in a way that makes it easier for all people to build the families they want.