JD Vance angers childless women after calling Kamala Harris a “childless cat lady”

Childless adults are outraged by past comments made by JD Vance about Vice President Kamala Harris and how they have been judged simply for not having children.

In a resurfaced interview from 2021, Donald Trump's newly appointed running mate told the former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson said the country was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable with their own lives and the choices they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

“Look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance, 39, continued. “What’s the point that we’ve handed our country over to people who really have no vested interest in it?”

When a video of the interview went viral on X, formerly Twitter, it didn’t take long for the childless community to catch wind of Vance’s sexist comments. Childless women took to the platform to point out the constant criticism they’ve faced for their decision not to have children. Some people rightly pointed out that just because they didn’t have kids doesn’t mean they can’t make decisions about the future of the U.S.

American actress Liz Vassey, known for her roles in All my kids and in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, He responded sarcastically to Vance's comments: “I had no idea I was miserable. Thank God there was a man nearby who told me so.”

Another childless person posted on X: “As I haven’t given birth, I’ve heard judgements about this since I was 20, but this whole no stake in society unless you have kids thing is very sinister to me.”

“I chose not to have children and have never regretted it. I don’t want for anything and my life is quite full, thank you very much,” wrote a third woman. “You are nothing but a miserable little man who gets away with saying one outrageous thing after another.”

Meanwhile, some pointed out that people may remain childless due to health reasons beyond their control.

“Hi, I’m a childless cat lady,” wrote screenwriter Taryn Hillin. “Cancer took away my uterus and ovaries, so I can’t have children (biologically). Navigating the U.S. healthcare system is a nightmare. My dream is for all patients, regardless of income, to have equal access to life-saving treatment.”

“Do people realise that some women have very tragic and traumatic reasons for not having children?” asked another person. “Yes, for many it is a choice and we should support that. But talking like that is really hurtful to those who wish they had the option.”

More American adults have decided not to have children. A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that 44% of adults said they are “not very likely or not at all likely” to ever have children, up from 7% in 2018. While no single reason was found for why many Americans have lost interest in parenting, some respondents cited financial burdens or the unsettling “state of the world” as reasons for not having children.

Of course, it was important for many users to point out that Harris actually has two stepchildren. The US vice president is married to entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff for a long time and is stepmother to his biological children: Ella and Cole Emhoff.

Harris had previously spoken openly about being a stepmother to Ella and Cole in a personal essay for SheIn honor of Mother's Day 2019, Harris described her stepchildren as her “endless source of love and pure joy.”

The 59-year-old Democratic nominee detailed the moment she met her now-husband's children for the first time, writing: “Kids need consistency; I didn't want to insert myself into their lives as a temporary fixture because I didn't want to disappoint them.”

She called her stepchildren “bright, talented, funny kids who have grown into extraordinary adults.”

“I was already hooked on Doug, but I think it was Cole and Ella who won me over,” Harris wrote. Her stepchildren even gave her the affectionate nickname “Momala,” instead of stepmother.