Race and Childbearing in the US: Infertility as a Pressing Form of Reproductive Inequity

US racial inequity in reproductive rights spans multiple domains: contraception and abortion access, health care provision, maternal health and welfare. In this study, we focus on a different but no less consequential dimension of reproductive equity: the ability to have desired births. We integrate multiple forms of data to characterize Black, Latino/a, and white fecundity and fertility in the U.S., including the backend data of menstrual and pregnancy tracking apps, original survey data, and health service data. We demonstrate that childbearing limits that manifest biologically are heavily socially patterned. We trace these inequities from pregnancy attempts through infertility resolution. We argue that the ability to have desired children is a reproductive right that is highly stratified and increasingly relevant as childbearing is delayed later into the life course.