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Childfree adults are outraged over past comments made by JD Vance about Vice President Kamala Harris, and how they’ve been judged simply for not having children.
In a resurfaced interview from 2021, Donald Trump’s newly-appointed running mate told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the country was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
“Look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance, 39, continued. “How does it make any sense we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
As a video of the interview went viral on X, formerly Twitter, it didn’t take long for the childfree community to catch wind of Vance’s sexist comments. Women without children took to the platform to point out the constant criticism they’ve faced over their decision to remain childfree. Some people aptly noted that just because they didn’t have children doesn’t mean they’re unable to make decisions about the future of the US.
American actor Liz Vassey, known for her roles on All My Children and on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, sarcastically replied to Vance’s comments: “I had absolutely no idea I was miserable. Thank God there was a man around to tell me.”
Another childfree person posted on X: “As a non-birth giver, I’ve heard judgments about this since my 20s, but this thing about having no stake in society unless you produce young is very sinister to me.”
“I choose not to have kids and I’ve never regretted it. I’m not lacking anything and my life is quite full, thank you very much,” a third woman wrote. “You’re just a miserable little man who gets off by saying one outrageous thing after another.”
Meanwhile, some noted that people may remain childfree due to health reasons out of their control.
“Hi, childless cat lady here,” wrote screenwriter Taryn Hillin. “Cancer took my uterus and ovaries so I cannot have children (biologically). Navigating the US healthcare system is a nightmare. My dream is for all patients, regardless of income, to have equal access to life-saving treatment.”
“Do people even realize that some women have some very tragic and traumatized reasons they don’t have children?” another person asked. “Yes, for many it is a choice and we should support that. But talk like this is actually very hurtful to those who wish they had the choice.”
There has been a growing number of adults in the US who have decided to be childfree. A 2021 survey from the Pew Research Center found that 44 percent of adults said it is “not too or not at all likely” that they will have children someday, a seven percent increase from 2018. While there was no single reason why a number of Americans have lost interest in becoming parents, some survey respondents cited financial burdens or the unsettling “state of the world” as reasons to remain childfree.
Of course, it was important for many users to point out that Harris actually has two step-children. The US vice president is married to longtime entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff, and is a step-mother to his biological children: Ella and Cole Emhoff.
Harris previously opened up about being a stepmother to Ella and Cole in a personal essay for Elle. In honor of Mother’s Day 2019, Harris described her step-children as her “endless source of love and pure joy.”
The 59-year-old potential Democratic nominee detailed the moment she met her now-husband’s children for the first time, writing: “Children need consistency; I didn’t want to insert myself into their lives as a temporary fixture because I didn’t want to disappoint them.”
She referred to her step-children as “brilliant, talented, funny kids who have grown to be remarkable adults.”
“I was already hooked on Doug, but I believe it was Cole and Ella who reeled me in,” Harris wrote. Her step-children even given her the affectionate nickname of “Momala,” rather than step-mother.
