Did RFK Jr. say 'infertility is genetic'? Don't be fooled

The health secretary has made numerous incorrect claims, but this is not one of them. Published July 26, 2026 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." In July 2026, numerous social media posts attributed an absurd quote to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to a popular TikTok video, Kennedy said, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents can't have kids, neither can you." The user in the TikTok said: Welcome to another episode of the dumbest quote of the day, coming from RFK — Jr., that is — the reanimated corpse he be, the guy that bragged about being born on an H train, snorted dirty cocaine off dirty toilet seats while letting a parasitic worm eat his brain, uttered out of his mouth today that "Infertility is genetic. If your parents can't have kids, neither can you." That is a direct quote. Snopes readers also reached out to us to verify the authenticity of the quote. Though Kennedy has spread incorrect health information many times over the years, there is no evidence he said the above quote. We found variations of this quote on X and in humor books dating back years before he was sworn in as health secretary in 2025. As such, we rate this as an incorrect attribution. We entered variations of the quote in Google, Bing (archived) and DuckDuckGo, and found no authentic video or reportage indicating that Kennedy ever made such a statement. Earlier online examples of the quote are not attributed to Kennedy at all. One of the earliest variations of the quote we found on X, from Aug. 14, 2022, read: "Infertility is genetic, if your parents couldn't have kids you also won't." Other X accounts, including one labeled as a parody account, shared (archived) the same quote days later. Another variant of the quote appeared in the 2002 book "Science Askew: A Lighthearted Look at the Scientific World," by Donald E. Simanek. An even earlier version appeared in the 1997 book of humor "Living, Laughing, and Loving Life," by Dan Miller and Jeanne Zornes. We reached out to Zornes to learn if the quote originated from this book, and we'll update this story if we learn more. While he didn't originate the quote in question, Kennedy has long been concerned with infertility issues. In May 2026, at a White House event, he raised the alarm on male infertility, saying: The fertility crisis for women began in 2007; for men in 1970. Men had twice the sperm count as our teenagers do today. This is an existential crisis for our country. We had a series of presidents who were trying to discourage childbirth and motherhood in this country. We now have a president who is trying to encourage it. In 2025, Kennedy said on Fox News: "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%." Experts debunked this particular claim. An analysis by The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom focused on gender and politics, found that while evidence shows sperm counts are lower than decades ago, it's not clear that influences the declining birth rate in the U.S. Snopes has covered numerous claims about Kennedy, as well as debunked anti-vaccine talking points he has made. Sources Kasprak, Alex. "How RFK Jr. Exploited a Bogus Study Linking Vaccines to Chronic Illness." Snopes, 27 Feb. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//news/2024/02/27/rfk-vaccines-control-group/. Accessed 16 July 2026.Miller, Dan, and Jeanne Zornes. Living, Laughing, and Loving Life! With Internet Archive, Mukilteo, Wash. : WinePress Pub., 1997. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/livinglaughinglo00mill. Accessed 16 July 2026.Padilla, Mariel, and Jennifer Gerson. " Why Is RFK Jr. so Worried about Sperm Count? ." The 19th, 13 May 2026, https://19thnews.org/2026/05/rfk-jr-sperm-count-fertility/. Accessed 16 July 2026."RFK Jr.'s Warnings about Sperm Counts Fuel Doomsday Claims about Male Fertility." NBC News, 3 July 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mens-health/rfk-jrs-warnings-sperm-counts-fuel-doomsday-claims-male-fertility-rcna216062. Accessed 16 July 2026."Robert F. Kennedy Sworn in as Health and Human Services Secretary." C-SPAN, 13 Feb. 2025, https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/robert-f-kennedy-sworn-in-as-health-and-human-services-secretary/655791. Accessed 16 July 2026.Simanek, Donald E. Science Askew : A Light-Hearted Look at the Scientific World. With Internet Archive, Bristol, UK ; Philadelphia, PA : Institute of Physics Pub., 2002. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/scienceaskewligh0000sima. Accessed 16 July 2026.Wazer, Caroline. "14 Rumors about Trump's Health Secretary, RFK Jr." Snopes, 14 Apr. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//collections/rfk-jr-rumors-collection/. Accessed 16 July 2026. By Nur Ibrahim Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing. Article Tags