Posted on 05/14/2012 4:12:13 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - When Nancy Keenan, the head of America’s oldest abortion lobby, told the Washington Post she was stepping down, she cited a grim fact that she had noticed for years: abortion supporters just aren’t as young or zealous as their pro-life counterparts anymore.
“While most young, antiabortion voters see abortion as a crucial political issue, NARAL’s own internal research does not find similar passion among abortion-rights supporters,” wrote the Post’s Sarah Kliff. “If the pro-choice movement is to successfully defend abortion rights, Keenan contends, it needs more young people in leadership roles, including hers.”
Keenan, 60, said she would step down at the end of the year in favor of a younger executive. “There’s an opportunity for a new and younger leader,” Keenan told the paper. “Roe v. Wade is 40 in January. It’s time for a new leader to come in and, basically, be the person for the next 40 years of protecting reproductive choice.”
The abortion leader had told Newsweek in 2010 of her shock at the youth and vigor of the pro-life movement after stumbling upon the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., which draws hundreds of thousands of people - disproportionately female and very young - each year.
“I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,” she said. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.”
Gallup polls on the abortion issue among Americans have shown age groups growing more similar in their views on the topic for the past 20 years. While abortion-on-demand found most of its support among young adults in the mid-1970s, surveys since 2000 show all age groups below seniors showing similar feelings on the topic.
NARAL’s poll of 700 young Americans in 2010 found 51 percent of pro-life voters under 30 calling abortion a “very important” voting issue, compared with only 26 percent of the same group among abortion supporters.
Kristan Hawkins, the 26-year-old executive director of Students for Life of America, told CitizenLink that she could “definitely see” the intensity gap on college campuses, where her organization fosters 700 student pro-life groups compared with Planned Parenthood’s 200.
“(The pro-abortion groups) are dead. There is nothing going on. The only time we see them is when they are reacting to a Students for Life event,” said Hawkins.
Kliff reports that NARAL, which was founded four years before Roe v. Wade, has spent the past three years using surveys and focus groups to find new ways of messaging young adults to support abortion. A new, more extensive campaign for abortion is also waiting in the wings, due to be launched for Roe’s 40th anniversary next year.
“People give a lot of lip service to how we’re going to engage the next generation, but we can’t just assume it will happen on its own,” said Keenan.
Young people are acutely aware that a huge percentage of their generation has been murdered.
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Apparently pro-life adults raise more children than pro-abortion activists allow to survive. This surprises liberals and no doubt requires a scientific study for the unexpected trend to be understood.
Oh, boy, are they in for some heartache. Life trumps death *every* time.
Intensity Gap???? What a moron!
There is NO grey area between letting a living, breathing, unborn child live and cold, bloody, premeditated murder at the hands of a bloody butcher, is there?
Just where in the hell is the grey area? What a jerk!
I would love to see a senator or representative sneak the remains of a freshly aborted baby in front of Pelosi or Reid with the cameras rolling and let them see what they believe it! Sounds sick, but so is abortion!
She stumbled upon the March for Life. I think even CNN covers it, how could she stumble upon it?
No kidding. Fighting for life itself or fighting for the void of nihilism? It is just a matter of time before pro-life prevails. This rigged election is a rear guard action by the culture of death, but like the Texas Rangers, we are just going to keep on coming.
Keep praying, folks. It’s working!!
>>disproportionately female and very young <<
Last year, we had seven buses leave from my church, filled with young people.
This year, I’ll be on one of them with my girls. They are part of the Detroit Defenders of Life. You know, the flash mobs with the yellow balloons that say “Life”.
I’ve seen the films and now my younger daughter turned 12 and can go. I can’t wait.
They have NO younger generations!
Our local right-to-life group runs a booth at the flea market that is held the second weekend of every month. Anyway, I took a shift on Saturday, and had a huge turnout, with everyone supportive of our efforts. I had teens stop by and ask questions, and it was apparent they were anti-abortion. I told one man about the busloads of young people our Catholic parish takes every every year to Washington in January. As someone who was born less than 3 weeks after Roe v. Wade was decided, I have watched the holocaust of my generation and those after me. Obviously, by all the youth you see at the marches and at pro-life activities, I am not alone in this.
Surprising that pro aborts haven’t figured that they killed children and pro-lifers mostly didn’t.. it really is simple math.
Best news I have heard today!
Engage the next generation??? You mean the one your slaughtered?
Engage the next generation??? You mean the one your slaughtered?
Considering how much time CNN usually gives the March, she can be forgiven for not even realizing it happens every year.
The pro-abortion groups are still alive....it's their babies they had murdered.
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