"Less able to persuade women into doing so" is crazy. IMO the single biggest factor preventing kids right now in the US and other developed countries is the effects of COVID on the global economy along with the most significant period of global economic uncertainty in at least the 21st century. The amount of energy put into fertility is a waste, and by just enabling everyone to afford children the population problem could be solved. I'm also very afraid that all of these "fertility" companies are on a warpath to designer babies and I fear that could absolutely destroy trust and mutual respect in our society globally.
I'm not convinced the economic argument is correct. Anecdotally, two is by far the most common number of kids among other parents I know. They're all pretty well off so I don't think that's the reason. It's definitely not COVID as their kids are some years too old for that. Nor do I think it's age or infertility, as they had plenty of time and there's no wistful talk about wishing they could have another one. As far as I can tell, they stopped at 2 because they wanted to.
Your theory is easily disproven by looking at other countries with far more volatile economies than the USA. They almost always have much higher fertility rates no matter how bad their economies are. But don’t feel bad: every single theory people have come up to explain decreasing fertility rates in nearly every country on the planet can be shown to not match reality one way or another. Whoever comes up with an explanation that matches reality is going to get a Nobel Prize.
