Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse lamented how current generations have “stopped having babies” despite living in a richer world.
“What in the world is happening with the natalism crisis?” Sasse asked on “60 Minutes Overtime” Sunday. “All across the industrialized, rich world, people have just stopped having babies in the last couple of decades.”
Sasse added that, out of every demographic, only Mormons and specific Jewish populations have replacement-level birth rates, a detail he found “super weird.”
“We’ve stopped having sex,” he said. “Sex has collapsed demographically, premarital, extramarital, marital. It is very weird. I don’t have a phone on me, but that we carry around these super devices in our pockets that have distracted us from some of the most fundamental human activities and aspirations.
“Having a baby is a bet on the future,” Sasse continued. “And almost everywhere in the world — and the world is richer and richer and richer statistically than it’s ever been — people have decided actually babies are kind of an inconvenience.
“Babies have always been an inconvenience and the most glorious thing you can do to enrich your family and to make a bet on the future,” he added. “How weird that we’ve stopped having sex. We’ve stopped making babies. We’ve decided that being distracted by a dopamine hit around Candy Crush might be a good way to spend your time. Not if you’re a full human.”
Sasse, a Republican who represented Nebraska between 2015 and 2023, shared in December 2025 that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer and initially given only three to four months to live.
After beating the odds, Sasse has credited a new “miracle drug” called daraxonrasib and his faith for helping to prolong his life.
In a February interview, Sasse reflected on how his “death sentence” and his faith have reshaped his view on life and his past accomplishments.
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“One thing I tell my kids a lot is, ‘Man, I wish I’d taken the Lord’s Day more seriously more in my life, because it’s a really good antidote to all those idolatries,'” Sasse said.
“God smashing idols for us is a blessing, and having a death sentence is a really good way.”
