For anybody wondering why Utahns (and Latter-Day Saints) have so many children relative to the rest of the nation, here are a couple of illustrative quotes from the days when leaders were less concerned about public relations and saying plausibly-deniable things…
Joseph Fielding Smith: Birth control is wickedness. . . When a man and woman are married and they agree, or covenant, to limit their offspring to two or three, and practice devices to accomplish this purpose, they are guilty of iniquity which eventually must be punished.
Brigham Young: There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles … It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can.
Sure, times have changed. But for people wondering why Utah still has such a high birth rate… you can look right there for the answers. They are alive and well, though the current wisdom is phrased as “have as many children as you can afford”.