America doesn’t have royalty, per se. But Americans often treat celebrities with the same sort of exuberant reverence and prosperity by proxy. This is especially true for political celebrities, including the elected head of the executive branch and his elected successor-in-waiting. Thus the news that Second Lady Usha Vance had given birth made the Washington rounds faster than Josh Kerr can run a mile.

“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother,” Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife wrote Sunday.

Alec Vance is the vice president’s fourth child, following Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4.

The child’s arrival makes the vice president’s family more than twice as large as the average American household. From 2020-2024, U.S. households averaged 2.53 persons. This number is not terribly skewed by single-person or single-parent households, since the average number of children born per woman reached a low of 1.64 in 2022.

The new Vance baby joins a mini-boom among the Trump administration’s top echelon. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, gave birth to her fourth child on June 3 (all 5 and under), and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt recently gave birth to her second child on May 1.

“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vice President Vance said at the 2025 March for Life. Personally, he is practicing what he preached.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward,” the psalmist wrote. “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:3-5).

This text reflects the biblical view that children are a good part of God’s creation — a blessing which only he can give. After creating human beings male and female in his image, “God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28). The blessing and the mandate are not in contrast here; they are one and the same. The blessing God gives is for mankind to fill the earth with his image-bearers.

The triumph over the expansion of Vance’s “biracial” family (scare quotes because the word implies the human race can be divided into more than one) should also silence both racists and race-baiters alike. Children are a blessing no matter their parents or their heritage. Their value and worth come from God and cannot be lightly discarded.

The Vance baby also made news because Alec Vance is the first child born to a sitting vice president since Schuyler Colfax III was born to Vice President Schuyler Colfax, Jr. in 1870, during the Grant administration. According to the White House Historical Association, Vice President John C. Calhoun also had a son, Willam, born while he was in office, in 1829.

Some of this historical trend is due to the requisite age. Vice presidents must be at least 35 years old, so they often have older children, not young families. However, other vice presidents have been as young as Vance. The incumbent’s sizable and growing family both reflect the cultural trend for women to bear children later in life, and the Trump administration’s pro-natalist position.

Touchingly, even President Trump took time to congratulate the young family of his running mate. “Congratulations! A perfect baby boy for the wonderful Vance family,” the president wrote.

The celebration surrounding the Vance baby perfectly encapsulates the pro-natalist side of the Trump administration. Children are a blessing, and they should be welcomed with joy. Alas, many children are not. Even in a land that recognizes an inalienable right to life, many children have their lives snatched away before they ever leave the womb. Too often, those in political power turn a blind eye to this injustice. A birth is not the occasion to become very political, but hopefully, the joy that decision-makers experience over this new addition to the vice president’s family will spur the administration on to actions that will value and protect the lives of all children, not just those of the famous and powerful.