Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is under fire for his comments at the Oval Office, making claims about teenage boys' sperm levels and saying that parents "aren't having" children.
RFK Jr. made the comments when President Donald Trump announced that his administration was working to bring the prices of in vitro fertilization (IVF) down. The HHS secretary added that, "prices are going way down, way, way down."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Oval Office Claims
However, he made other statements that caught the attention of a lot of people, including that "our parents aren't having children." He also claimed that the average teenager in the U.S. right now has 50% of the sperm count and 50% of the testosterone as a 65-year-old man.
RFK Jr. said that parents these days who want to have children simply do not have access. He then talked about his own experiences, citing that he is thankful to God for his seven children and could not imagine not having that blessing, according to People.
His comments come as American male virility has been one of his frequent talking points. In a similar fashion, he brought up his claims about testosterone levels when he campaigned against artificial food dyes earlier this year.
At the time, he said that 74% of kids these days are not able to qualify for military service, adding that fertility rates are "spiraling." He claimed that a teenager today has less testosterone than a man who is 68 years old.
RFK Jr. noted that testosterone levels have dropped 50% from historic levels, adding that it is an "existential problem."
An Alleged Decrease in Sperm Count in Teenagers
While experts say that sperm count decreases with age, which means teenagers should have more than elderly men, data on young men's sperm count is scarce. A reproductive urologist at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Scott Lundy, said that this is a very contentious issue in their field, the Independent reported.
On the other hand, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon cited two papers from 2017 and 2022 to support the secretary's claims. He said that there is a growing body of peer-reviewed research that shows significant declines in sperm counts over the last few decades.
Mehmet Oz, celebrity doctor-turned Medicare administrator, predicted that there would be a lot of "Trump babies" as a result of the president's administration's fertility reforms. This comes after years of the U.S. being "under-babied." He said that the fundamental creative force in our society is about "making babies," as per the Daily Beast.
