Claims that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents couldn't have kids, then you won't either," are false. There is no credible evidence that Kennedy ever made this remark, either seriously or in jest. The line appears to be a recycled social-media joke that was misattributed to him in a TikTok post.
What Was Posted
A TikTok video posted by the account @nic6867 on July 15, 2026 presented the sentence as a quotation from Kennedy. The caption and clip gave the impression that Kennedy had uttered the line, but the claim lacks supporting reporting from reputable news organizations.
Image source: post by @nic6867 on TikTok.
What the Record Shows
Searches of major news aggregators (including Google News and Yahoo News) for the exact quote paired with "Robert F. Kennedy Jr." returned no credible coverage verifying the attribution. No reliable outlet has reported that Kennedy made this statement.
Related Public Statements
Kennedy has publicly raised concerns about falling U.S. fertility rates. In an April 2025 interview on Fox News he described declining fertility measures as an "existential problem," saying, "We have fertility rates that are just spiraling. A teenager today, an American teenager, has less testosterone than a 68-year-old man. Sperm counts are down 50%." Those comments about fertility do not include the specific line misattributed to him.
Image source: screenshots of posts by @Chymamusique on Facebook and by @RavingReaper on Reddit.
Origins Of The Quoted Line
The "Infertility is genetic" line is not new. Variations of the phrase circulated as a joke on social platforms at least as early as August 2022, including posts on Facebook and Reddit that did not link the wording to Kennedy. The July 2026 TikTok clip appears to have recycled that earlier joke and falsely attributed it to a public official.
Bottom Line: There is no substantiated evidence that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ever said, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents couldn't have kids, then you won't either." The TikTok post misattributes a circulating social-media joke to him.
Sources: TikTok post by @nic6867 (July 15, 2026); Lead Stories review of Google News and Yahoo News; archived social-media posts from August 2022; April 2025 Fox News interview with RFK Jr.
