CNN — A few minutes after taking the stage, a featured speaker at a conference poses a question to the audience: Does anyone here have more than seven kids? In many circles, asking this would be strange or surprising. But at this kickoff dinner, it’s a clear crowd-pleaser. Over the din of clinking cutlery, someone shouts out, “Nine!” “Can anyone beat nine?” the speaker says with an auctioneer’s flair. “Alright, nine has it. Congratulations!” As the crowd responds with cheers and applause, the audience member with the winning answer adds that their 10th child is on the way. Welcome to the Natal Conference, NatalCon for short, where a big item on the agenda is boosting birth rates. Some 200 of the most fervent supporters of a budding movement are here, hoping this in-person meetup will help their cause find an even larger audience — before it’s too late. Many in this group are unlikely allies who share a common goal. Birth rates, they say, are plummeting to dangerously low levels, posing...
