MAGA Is Worried About Male Fertility. Trump Is Killing Their Sperm.

There’s some scientific backing for the idea that sperm count is declining. But Republican environmental policies are making it worse.

Male infertility is having a moment. A Gen Z–founded Silicon Valley start-up, The New York Times recently reported, wants to monetize “sperm racing”; the internet is full of advice on “spermmaxxing”; and last month Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. called the male fertility decline an “existential crisis,” claiming that in the 1970s, men had “twice the sperm count our teenage boys do today.” Last year he also asserted that “a teenager today has less testosterone than a 68-year-old man.”

Unsurprisingly, the HHS secretary’s facts were off: The study he relied on doesn’t specifically mention teenage boys, about whom there is not enough data to support such a claim; the threat is not an “existential” one; and the point about 68-year-old men is just made up (fertility absolutely does decline with age, even if our gerontocracy doesn’t want to believe it).  

Still, he’s correct on the big picture: Some indicators suggest male fertility is declining. Sperm counts and sperm concentration declined worldwide by more than half between 1973 and 2018, according to one major data analysis. Many other studies show similar trends, although there are dissenting findings, and the issue remains somewhat controversial. One in 20 men face reduced fertility—hardly a reason to put humans on the endangered species list, but a legitimate public health concern and an understandable source of anxiety for those hoping to start families.

The issue has been preoccupying the right-wing manosphere for years, part of a collage of anxieties about masculinity that have fueled the rise of Trump. Sadly, Trump’s actual policies are poised to make the problem of male fertility decline much worse.

While researchers may not know exactly what’s behind the sperm count decline, they have identified some significant factors. A large body of research........

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