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The Changing Faces of the Pro-life Movement


The Changing Faces of the Pro-life Movement
As the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches later this month, our nation once again is polarized on the issue of abortion. While politicians huddle in Washington, D.C., attempting to force abortion-tinged health care into law, public support for the legislation continues to lag. Poll after poll demonstrates an unwillingness by the American people to embrace the public funding of abortion. Most recently, a Rasmussen Reports poll showed that 53 percent of Americans favor a complete ban on abortion coverage in any health-insurance plan passed by Congress. Last fall, a Quinnipiac University survey found 72 percent opposed to paying for abortion coverage under Congress’ health-care proposal.
America today is a different place than it was on January 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing women a right to an abortion. The activists who cheered that day are now grandmothers, and the younger generation today is no longer as supportive of abortion. Pro-abortionists lament their messaging – coined at a time when women’s rights and reproductive freedom dominated their policy debates. Today’s 18-30 year-olds, they say, never had to contend with a world where abortion was illegal; the old messages no longer ring true.  
While the old guard of abortion activists downplays a generational divide on the issue of abortion, polls tell a different story. Last year, Pew Research found that, among women over 50, there was stronger support (58 percent) for abortion than by women aged 18-29 (52 percent), and a 2007 poll by Harris Interactive found only 45 percent of those in the 18-30 group supported “abortion rights” compared to 54 percent in the 43-61 group and 53 percent of those over 62.
Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, interviewed in a recent New York Times piece about abortion’s generational divide, explained, “Not only is this the post-Roe generation, I’d also call it the post-sonogram generation.”  Yoest noted that for many women, their baby’s first video now occurs in the womb.  “They can take the video and do the music and send it to the grandmother. We don’t even talk anymore about the hypothesis that having an abortion is like having an appendectomy,” said Yoest.
While many states – California included – have written abortion restrictions into their state laws and constitutions, attitudes and times are changing. Abortion rates in the United States have fallen to their lowest level since 1974. In a January 2008 report, the Guttmacher Institute, the pro-abortion research organization formerly associated with Planned Parenthood, noted abortions had declined from 1.31 million in 2000 to 1.21 million in 2005. Because Guttmacher draws its statistics from the abortion providers themselves, its accuracy is trusted more than government statisticians who rely on state agencies – not all of which (California included) require the reporting of abortion numbers. 
January, with its pro-life emphasis, provides a time to reflect and decide how you can help return our culture to one where every child is welcome in life and protected in law.  As what has come to be known as the National Sanctity of Human Life Week approaches January 17-24, please actively participate in honoring the memory of the millions of lost preborn lives.  Perhaps you could volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center or attend one of the many life prayer breakfasts across the state. Need help deciding? See the resources below.
Resources and Opportunities:
·         Focus on the Family’s www.heartlink.org or "Be a Voice for Life" 
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