AM: Editorial: Duffy off track by tying transportation $$ to birth rates

It’s a swing and a miss from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has directed his department to prioritize projects in communities that have birth rates higher than the national average.

In an undated memo, Duffy said any Department of Transportation-supported or assisted program — including all grants, loans, and contracts — should prioritize projects and goals that “mitigate the unique impacts of DOT programs, policies, and activities on families and family-specific difficulties.”

That includes “accessibility of transportation to families with young children, and (giving) preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.”

If Duffy is trying to encourage Americans to have more children, this is the wrong way to go about it. More importantly, it turns a blind eye to some of the reasons why particular areas may have low birth rates.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2021, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.6 times the rate for White women.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health reported that in 2022, the infant mortality rate for Blacks was 2.4 times the rate for whites. Blacks had the highest infant mortality rate among all racial and ethnic groups.

Black infants were 3.6 times more likely to die from causes related to low birthweight and 3.2 times more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome or impacts from maternal complications of pregnancy than white infants in 2022.

The causes mirror those exposed by the COVID pandemic: racial disparities limiting access to quality healthcare, income, and insurance coverage.

If Duffy wants to raise birth rates, addressing these issues is paramount.

He should also take note of the cost of living in some of these lower birth rate areas.

Birth rates in Massachusetts and New England have been steadily declining over the past decade and fell below the national average in 2023, according to state and federal data. Duffy may not know it, but New England is an expensive region in which to live, especially Massachusetts.

Housing and other costs have soared while incomes have wheezed to pick up the pace, taxes are high and many young college educated couples are struggling with massive student loan debt. For too many, desire to have children is far outweighed by the financial inability to do so.

Gov. Maura Healey was baffled by Duffy’s move to tie birth rates to transportation.

“I got to be honest, I’ve really tried here but I do not see a connection,” she told reporters at the State House Monday afternoon. “We’re a state that’s very serious about ensuring that our residents and our business have access to the highest quality public transit in the entire country.”

Public transit is tied to thriving communities and economic growth and stability — hardly things that should be impeded by the loss of funding based on fewer babies.

Do better, Duffy.

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