Apr 21, 2024
Child-free Texans Raise Voices Despite Stigmatized Life Choice
byKatrina L. Spencer
Sending a message to his more than 40,000 followers on social media platform X in March, Houstonian Adrian C. Jackson told the world he had made a major life decision. “Might as well make this a public journey to inform & encourage other men,” he tweeted March 10. “The appointment is booked. I’m going through with it. I’m getting a vasectomy.”
Now 40, earning six figures as a software engineer and child-free, Jackson wanted the rewards of years of practicing safe sex and his relentless socioeconomic climb. The prize was financial freedom minus the cost of raising children.
Jackson is one of an increasing number of child-free Texans who intend to remain so. About 44% of U.S. adults without children say they are either “not too likely” or “not at all likely” to have children, according to a 2021 study from the Pew Research Center. In 2018, only 37% said they were not likely to have children, suggesting a trend on the rise.
