The generational divide on abortion views is cause for hope

A recent study shows a shift in how many view abortion, especially those between the ages of 18 to 29.

Last week, the Public Religion Research Institute published a study revealing some sharp generational divides on abortion rights.

According to the study, fewer than half of those classified as young Americans said abortion goes against their personal beliefs. However, 60 percent of Americans older than 65 said it did. Additionally, around two-thirds of young people to 51 percent of seniors responded that “abortion should be legal in most or all cases.”

The survey also revealed disparities in how young people and seniors’ views of abortion have changed in recent years. One-third of young Americans note their views have changed, with most saying their views have become more supportive. Seniors though say their views have become more opposed.

The past few years have seen an alarming uptick in political attacks on abortion and reproductive health care access. According to the reproductive rights research group Guttmacher Institute, more than 1,050 restrictions on abortion have been enacted since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, and of those restrictions, around 27 percent were enacted in the five years between 2011 and 2016. Many of these dangerous restrictions are bans on some form of the procedure or regulations that shut down clinics offering abortion services. The mounting restrictions on abortion in recent years are indicative of the older, male majorities in Congress and state legislatures.

The survey by PRRI speaks to the potential for change in the landscape around reproductive rights. This is a change that will hopefully sweep the nation in the next few elections starting with 2018 midterms.

It’s hardly an exaggeration to say women’s health and lives could depend on this. In recent years, the United States’ maternal mortality rate has risen, and the U.S. presently maintains the highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world. States with more restrictions on the procedure tend to have even higher rates. It’s difficult to see this as coincidental in light of the anti-choice movement’s jarring growth.

Related Story: John Oliver talks about the danger of crisis pregnancy centers

Today’s politicians will eventually be replaced with today’s young people. Of those young Americans, it is likely many will be more supportive of reproductive rights, according to the PRRI survey. The generational divide on abortion, and the open-mindedness and empathy among young people that it speaks to, are a critical reminder to get out the vote and take millennials seriously in future elections.