Millennials Opinion on Abortion
One of the most widely debated topics since Roe vs. Wade has been the woman’s right to choose over the right of the unborn to live. Most citizens in all age groups agree that abortion is acceptable in a few scenarios, but through the generations, as people get older, they tend to take on a more “pro-life” and conservative view. A series polls done by the General Social Survey over the last 40 years shows that the 18-29 year old category of any given generation has been consistently more “pro-choice” than the older citizens polled during that same time period. Against the trend, Generation Y, or the Millennials, has been less “pro-choice” than their counterparts in previous generations, even though they tend to hold more liberal opinions.
A valid opinion as to why the younger generation is becoming less pro-choice argues that the disturbing media that accompanies anti-abortion campaigns has gone viral. The presence of YouTube, Facebook, and other mass Internet media has made shocking images and real life stories of abortion very real to many young people. This generation grew up watching TV and movies that tried to advocate the presence and humanity of a human fetus, and even showed the possibilities of happy endings by choosing life with movies like Juno. The campaign against abortion has many different pieces of imagery and data that are very appealing to human nature, whereas the pro-choice campaign has only an ideal of civil liberties to stand on. Knowing the influence of the media’s frame on political issues, it would be logical that this latest generation would be less pro-choice than those from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Despite their pro-life stance, Millennials have regularly voted against anti-abortion laws, which may mean that they dislike the idea of abortion, but dislike the idea of being controlled even more. In effect, they can be anti-abortion and still be pro-choice; they would just prefer that the choice...