Is the Sky Falling On Abortion ‘Rights’?

Details: 25 May 2012

This headline in LifeSiteNews.com caught my attention: "The sky is falling on abortion ‘rights.’" The article quotes a Planned Parenthood director expressing concern about the increasing number of pro-life laws that have been enacted in recent years (92 in 2011), saying: "the sky is falling on Roe v. Wade."

One concern among pro-abortion leaders is the growing awareness among Americans of the "nitty-gritty details of abortion procedures" as Frances Kissling and Kate Michelman put it. Additionally, the now ubiquitous ultrasound images of children in the womb have exposed the euphemisms used to dehumanize the unborn ("blob of tissue," "clump of cells," "fetus").

More than 20 years ago, Harrison Hickman, former pollster for NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) identified the "damaging" effect of ultrasound on the pro-abortion movement. He said this to a crowd gathered for the 20th anniversary of NARAL’s founding:

"Probably nothing has been as damaging to our cause as the advances in technology which have allowed pictures of the developing fetus, because people now talk about the fetus in much different terms than they did 15 years ago. They talk about it as a human being, which is not something that I have an easy answer on how to cure."

The LifeSiteNews article also points to statements made by Nancy Keenan, the outgoing president of NARAL explaining why she is retiring. According to the Washington Post interview, Keenan said she is "leaving out of concern for the future of the pro-choice movement—and thinks she could be holding it back."

Ms. Keenan’s concern stems largely from what she calls an "intensity gap" on abortion among the "Millennial Generation" (also known as Gen Y or Echo Boomers), which is generally viewed as Americans born between 1980 and 1995. NARAL’s own survey of 700 "Millennials," conducted in 2010, revealed the "intensity gap."

According to the survey, 51 percent of pro-life voters under the age of 30 considered abortion to be a "very important" voting issue. By contrast, only 26 percent of pro-abortion voters under 30 felt the same way.

This survey reinforces research conducted nearly 10 years ago by Rosetta Foundation which also revealed strong pro-life sentiment among the Millennial generation. That research found this generation to be "fundamentally very pro-life." "When they imagine aborting their own unborn child, they feel as if they are killing themselves." One outcome of this research is the excellent website TeenBreaks.com.

Although the pro-life tendencies of Millennials is encouraging, the pro-life movement cannot sit back and assume that these tendencies will automatically bear fruit. There are virulent pro-abortion influences in the media and academia that often militate against the pro-life tendencies of young people.

Indeed, NARAL is in the midst of a three-year effort (surveys, focus groups) to study and better understand young voters in order to engage them in support of "abortion rights." The Washington Post article said "NARAL hopes to roll out a more extensive campaign" to reach young people "[w]hen the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade reaches its 40th anniversary next year."

The pro-life movement can do no less. We must take advantage of the pro-life tendencies of young people by forming them well in our faith and in virtue. And we must engage and equip them to be faithful and effective apologists for the dignity of human life and human sexuality.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.