Phil

The U.S.

birth rate is declining.

Rose Paz choice choices help explain why.

Ms.

Paz, 22, grew up in Salt Lake City, the eldest of three children, born when her mother, an immigrant from Mexico, was 16.

Her parents, a waitress and a cook, worked a lot, leaving her responsible for her younger siblings.

She remembers having to skip sleepovers and birthday parties to care for them.

Ms.

Paz is studying for a bachelor's degree in marketing.

She has a serious boyfriend but does not want to have children now.

"'I want to be financially stable and in a place I can call my own,' she said.

"'I saw my parents get stressed over money and I don't want my kid to experience that.'"

Not so long ago, women like Ms.

Paz in their early 20s from backgrounds that are far from privileged would have been among the most likely to have children.

Now this group is a key contributor to the country's declining birth rate, which is at an all-time low, down by over 25% since 2007, the year the fall began.

Preet, do you have kids?

Shame on you.

Why don't you have children?

So the way that they frame this as, you know, young women are deciding not to.

That's strictly because of birth control and because of abortion.