Short version: There is no verified evidence that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents can't have kids, neither can you." The sentence appears in online posts and humor books from 1997 and 2002 and on social media in 2022, years before Kennedy became HHS secretary. While Kennedy has publicly warned about fertility trends, experts say some of his specific claims are misleading or unproven.
Fact Check: RFK Jr. Did Not Say “Infertility Is Genetic” — The Line Is An Older Joke
Anna Moneymaker, accessed via Getty Images
Claim: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents can't have kids, neither can you."
Rating: Incorrect attribution
What we found
Multiple social posts in July 2026 circulated an outrageous sentence attributed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (HHS secretary). A widely viewed TikTok framed the sentence as a direct quote from Kennedy: "Infertility is genetic. If your parents can't have kids, neither can you." After searching news archives, social platforms, and video databases, investigators found no authenticated video, transcript, contemporary reporting, or other reliable source showing Kennedy ever uttered that line.
Rating: Incorrect Attribution
Although Kennedy has a documented history of commenting on fertility trends and promoting controversial health claims, the specific sentence in question appears in online posts and humor books that predate his confirmation as HHS secretary in 2025.
Earlier appearances
Researchers traced versions of the quip back to social posts and print sources:
- An X (formerly Twitter) post dated Aug. 14, 2022, used nearly the same wording: "Infertility is genetic, if your parents couldn't have kids you also won't."
- The line—or a close variant—appears in Donald E. Simanek's 2002 humor collection Science Askew: A Lighthearted Look at the Scientific World.
- An even earlier phrasing shows up in the 1997 humor book Living, Laughing, and Loving Life by Dan Miller and Jeanne Zornes.
Because the phrase circulated in print and online before Kennedy became HHS secretary and because no verified contemporary evidence shows he said it, attributing the line to him is incorrect.
Context: Kennedy's Public Comments On Fertility
That does not mean Kennedy has not spoken about fertility. In May 2026, at a White House event, he warned about declining male fertility and tied it to broader concerns about population and family policy. In 2025 he claimed on Fox News that teenage Americans have lower testosterone and that sperm counts are down 50% — claims experts called misleading or unsupported in that form. Scientific research indicates some declines in sperm counts over decades, but researchers do not agree that this alone explains falling U.S. birth rates.
Bottom line
No reliable evidence shows RFK Jr. said "Infertility is genetic. If your parents can't have kids, neither can you." The sentence circulated online and in print years earlier as a joke or quip and has been misattributed to him. Major fact-checkers and news outlets reached the same conclusion.
Sources
- Snopes fact check and related Snopes coverage of RFK Jr.
- Archived social posts on X (formerly Twitter)
- Donald E. Simanek, Science Askew (2002)
- Dan Miller & Jeanne Zornes, Living, Laughing, and Loving Life (1997)
- The 19th (analysis of sperm counts and fertility trends)
- NBC News reporting on RFK Jr.'s comments about sperm counts
- C-SPAN record of RFK Jr.'s 2025 swearing-in as HHS secretary
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