The anti-abortion movement is in a strange place. On the one hand, Roe v Wade might soon be substantially weakened by the US Supreme Court, perhaps ultimately leading to its complete overturning (though I remain sceptical about that possibility). A wave of pro-life laws could result, giving a psychological boost to abolitionism worldwide. Viewed through that lens, the pro-life movement is doing well.
But change your lenses and the picture looks very different. Though the US is evenly split between people who identify as pro-choice and pro-life, Gallup polling finds that the youngest age cohort, 18- to 29-year-olds, are 62 per cent pro-choice to 33 per cent pro-life. Europe is worse, with legal abortion mostly a settled question. In Ireland, which recently repealed its pro-life Eighth Amendment, 87 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 voted in favour of repeal. Anecdotally, those views do not seem to shift as people age – at least not as much as they once did.
