Luz Portillo, the oldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, has many plans. She is studying to be a skin care expert. She has also applied to nursing school. She works full time, too — as a nurse’s aide and doing eyelash extensions, a business she would like to grow.
But one thing she has no plans for anytime soon is a baby.
Ms. Portillo’s mother had her when she was 16. Her father has worked as a landscaper for as long as she can remember. She wants a career and more control over her life.
“I can’t get pregnant, I can’t get pregnant,” she said she tells herself. “I have to have a career and a job. If I don’t, it’s like everything my parents did goes in vain.”
"“The story here is about young women, whose births are plummeting,” said Caitlin Myers, an economist at @Middlebury who analyzed county-level birth records… “All of a sudden, in the last 10 years, there’s this tremendous transformation.”"https://t.co/YTH4HhZy6S
— Elise Shanbacker (@lizziellen) June 16, 2021