Bob CollinsThere isn’t as much coverage as there used to be of the annual anti-abortion protest/rally at the Minnesota Capitol, this year marking the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Part of that is because there isn’t much new to say about the issue that hasn’t been said before. Nonetheless, thousands of people came to St. Paul in wind chills not fit for humans today.
About 2,000 people (my estimate) showed up this year.
The speeches were cut short, but many of them focused on the national, rather than the state debate, possibly due to a revamped Supreme Court on the issue.
One thing that’s hard to miss about this year’s crowd. It was young.
Part of that is because a lot of schools bussed their kids to the rally.
Still, is abortion becoming a generational issue?
The L.A. Times looked at that question today, determined that young people are more likely to be anti-abortion in greater numbers than older people, and that it didn’t happen by accident.
Pew Research Center polls dating back a decade show that 18- to 29-year-olds are consistently more likely than the general adult population to favor strict limits on abortion. A Pew survey over the summer found 22% of young adults support a total ban on abortion, compared with 15% of their parents’ generation.
Looking specifically at teens, a Gallup survey in 2003 found that 72% called abortion morally wrong, and 32% believed it should be illegal in all circumstances. Among adults surveyed that year, only 17% backed a total ban.
