Bet on Youth: Millennials Are a Pro-Choice Generation

You might have heard some chatter about the gulf between pre- and post-Roe generations. The story goes that, while "the menopausal militia" remembers a time when abortion was illegal and thus is at the forefront of the continuing reproductive rights battle, young people are more concerned about genocide in Darfur, climate change, and marriage equality. Be that as it may, banking on young people is still smart policy: a new study conducted for NARAL Pro-Choice America finds that 59% of youth under consider themselves pro-choice, versus only 40% who are anti-choice.

In one interesting finding, youth who responded via cell phones or the internet tended to be more pro-choice than their counterparts reached by landline: only 47% of youth reached by landline identified as pro-choice, versus 60% via web and 59% via cell. More than half of youth under 30 (myself included) cannot be reached via landline. Thus, traditional surveys that conduct their research through calls to landlines contain a conservative bias that under-representative of pro-choice support. NARAL points out, "Youth reached through landlines are more likely to be married, own a house, have a credit history, be less mobile, and less racially diverse, often resulting in a more conservative political outlook."

The study also found that a politician hold a pro-choice stance will get him a bump amongst youth, whether Democrat or Republican. So while youth might spending a lot of time worrying about genocide and the destruction of the environment -- as well they should -- that doesn't mean they aren't a positive force for reproductive rights. And with frightening new laws such a Utah's criminalizing miscarriage, members of the post-Roe generation are no doubt getting the picture that the rights they might have thought were secure are unfortunately no-so-safe. I'd bet on youth to fight against being deprived of the reproductive freedoms they know to be part of their human rights.

Photo credit: Steve Rhodes