Did federal shutdown really cause July baby boom in D.C.?

[LuckyTheDog]

For years, the weather has been blamed when there are alleged cabin fever-induced spikes in births. Now, some in the Washington area are pointing to Congress to explain packed maternity wards at several local hospitals.

This July, nine months after Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation — shutting down much of the government and sending hundreds of thousands of federal workers home for more than two weeks — some hospitals are reporting higher-than-average numbers of births. Skeptics say the coincidence is probably just another false "baby boom" claim, which have been made after hurricanes, snowstorms and even the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Usually these stories are just romantic hypotheses with nothing to support them," said Philip Morgan, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who's the director of the Carolina Population Center. "A few hospitals will have extra babies, so if you go looking for evidence you can find it."

MORE HERE: http://wonkynewsnerd.com/july-baby-boom-in-dc/

[JohLast]

1. It did in my house!

[SheilaT]

2. For decades these claims have been made,

but every time someone actually looks at the pattern of births, there's nothing there.

These stories assume that when there's a blackout of some kind, or a major storm, or a government shutdown, a significant number of people who hadn't been having sex before now do, and they're too stupid to use birth control. We all know that some people don't use birth control properly or sometimes it fails, but these supposed spikes in births are invariably urban legends.