Wyoming people care about family, children, work, neighbors, faith, responsibility and the future of our towns. We may disagree on politics or policy, but most of us know this: a state without strong families will not remain strong.
That is why this debate matters.
I appreciate Wendy Volk's response to my earlier column.
I also read Patricia McDaniel's letter in publications around Wyoming, which called my column misogynistic, compared it to an incel website, and said newspapers should "muzzle" me.
Patricia McDaniel's call to "muzzle" me deserves attention.
Wyoming has a tradition of plain speech, disagreement and public argument. If critics believe I am wrong, they should say so.
If my facts are weak, they should challenge them. If my conclusions are mistaken, they should answer them. Asking a newspaper to silence a columnist is not an argument; it is an attempt to end one.
I do not want Wendy Volk or Patricia McDaniel silenced. I want their arguments answered. I ask for the same standard in return.
Let me be clear: I did not argue that women should be controlled, that housing and childcare do not matter, or that women are responsible for every social ill facing this state.
My argument is simple: a culture that teaches sex without responsibility, freedom without sacrifice and adulthood without family will struggle to replace itself.
Nor is that hostility toward women; it is a higher respect. Women do not gain dignity by following a male economic script.
A woman is not less because she raises children, nor is she behind because motherhood interrupts a career. The real insult is assuming a woman fails unless she produces marketplace wages. That is a devaluation of womanhood disguised as equality.
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis described the devil's strategy of delay: persuading people there is always more time, until the chance is gone.
Today, young people are told there is plenty of time for marriage, children and family after education, careers, travel and financial security.
But biology is not negotiable. A culture that says motherhood can always wait is not telling young women the whole truth.
The U.S. birth rate has fallen 23 percent since 2007, leaving fertility below replacement. America's median age is 39.4, and Social Security faces insolvency by 2032.
These are warning lights. A country with too few children eventually lacks the workers, taxpayers and families to carry forward what earlier generations built.
Wyoming is not exempt; our births exceed deaths by barely 200 annually. Natural replacement has nearly flatlined.
Volk notes Wyoming's population grew. But headcount and natural replacement differ. A state can add residents while failing to sustain its communities through births. A patient surviving by blood transfusions is not healthy; likewise, a state dependent on in-migration is not demographically sound.
Volk focuses on economics: wages, housing, childcare and maternity care. These real issues matter, and Wyoming should improve conditions for families.
But economics alone does not settle the argument.
If money explained birth rates, wealthy nations with generous family benefits would thrive. They do not. Across Europe, Germany, Sweden, Japan and South Korea remain far below replacement despite massive state support.
So, money matters. Policy matters. But culture matters too.
For decades, our culture has prioritized career and independence over motherhood, treating domestic life as lesser and family sacrifice as a burden.
Men share the blame. Too many delay commitment, avoid responsibility and treat fatherhood as optional, hurting women and communities.
Volk cites figures showing most abortions occur early. That is relevant, but it misses my point.
My concern is not frequency alone. My concern is what the law permits, what the culture defends and what moral line society is willing to cross.
A child does not become human by moving a few inches through the birth canal. Location does not determine dignity.
If a child is worthy of protection one moment after birth, that same child does not become worthless one moment before birth simply because of where that child is located. To say otherwise is to replace moral reasoning with geography.
Families facing devastating medical circumstances deserve compassion, truth and skilled care. Mothers in crisis should never be abandoned or mocked. But hard cases do not erase the moral fact that location does not create humanity.
This debate is not about restricting women's public roles or ignoring economic needs. Of course, women should lead, and of course Wyoming must support families.
The real issue is whether we still believe marriage, motherhood, fatherhood and children are central goods worth defending.
If we do, we should build a culture that makes family life honorable, supported and attainable.
I welcome honest disagreement. Calling names and demanding editors muzzle dissent is easier than answering arguments. Wyoming should be better than that.
No society can long endure when it treats children as optional, family as secondary and fertility as something that can always wait.
Wyoming must choose better.
Fred Harrison can be reached at: Fred.Harrison@fjhlawoffice.com
