New Poll Suggests Younger Generations Are Increasingly Pro-Life

A recent Students for Life poll revealed that Millennials and the rising Gen-Z generation may become the most pro-life age groups in American history.

In fact, of the 800 registered voters ages 18-34 polled, nearly half support banning abortion after a heartbeat is detected.

“That was the most shocking thing for us,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said. “It is very much contrary to what you hear coming from the rhetoric of Planned Parenthood, from the Biden administration, as to why they support such extremist of policies on abortion. To see that almost a half of these young people agree and think that this is common sense, that’s significant for the future of the pro-life movement.”

And when it comes to American taxpayer dollars being used to fund abortion, 48% of those polled say they oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions in the U.S. and 53% disagree with tax money being used to fund or promote abortion abroad. Yet President Joe Biden repealed the Mexico City Policy through an executive order last week, allowing federal tax dollars to flow to foreign organizations that profit from abortion, like Planned Parenthood International and MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International).

As for federal abortion law, 4 in 10 of those polled support reversing Roe v. Wade to allow the issue to return to the states where voters can engage—something Students for Life has been preparing for.

“I think we have to acknowledge that we’re going to see a lot of abortion extremism in the coming years, and that’s something that we’re really working hard to stand against,” Stephanie Stone, capital area regional coordinator with Students for Life, told Decision. “That’s at the federal level, but we want to get our students engaged on the state level as well because that’s where the fight will go afterward. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, it’s going to be the state legislatures that make the next decisions on what’s legal and what’s not. Our students are already active at that level, and we believe that’s where the future is—standing against the abortion extremism of this administration but also preparing our states to be more pro-life so we can move forward as quickly as possible when Roe v. Wade is overturned.”

What perhaps is most interesting is that abortion does not seem to be a partisan issue among Millennials and Gen Zs. Among those who participated in the poll, 30% self-identified as Republican, 36% Democrat and 34% Independent.

Above: A group of students from Cornell University and Queens College in New York participate in a Students for Life of America sidewalk outreach in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30.