The scales have tipped in favor of pro-life advocates as the movement made substantial gains in 2019.
Despite radical liberals pushing for the most extreme abortion laws imaginable, the American public has increasingly gotten more factual information. Inspired by anecdotal stories about women who have had moving experiences and hard facts that abortion clinics are undertaking reprehensible and illegal actions, polls show that more Americans are no longer persuaded by the “women’s right to choose” marketing strategies. Recent Gallup polls show that pro-life activists have helped shift the attitudes of women toward protecting life.
Since Roe v Wade became the law of the land in the 1970s, this is the first year a majority of women did not lean pro-abortion. The idea that a woman had the right to choose to end the life inside her was fostered by phony propaganda that that child was not alive. But science and clear messaging from women who have done a 180-degree turn on the issue has helped upend that misconception.
According to a May 2019 Gallup poll, the following data shows the tide has shifted:
- 51 percent of American women now consider themselves pro-life
- 24 percent of women say abortion should be illegal in “all circumstances”
- 50 percent of women state that abortion should only be legal under specific circumstances
- 56 percent of men say abortion should only be legal under specific circumstances
As recently as 2018, Gallup put forward analysis that stated that women and men differ on abortion above all other issues.
“Many U.S. political leaders may think of abortion as a key ‘women’s issue,’ but it is not an issue about which women have substantially different attitudes than men,” Gallup analysis reportedly stated in 2018. “There are significant gender gaps on a number of political and social issues in American society today, including political party identification, presidential job approval, views of the death penalty, and views of the moral acceptability of pornography, stem cell research, marijuana and cloning animals — but abortion is not one of these issues.”
Until 2019, the highest rate of women identifying as pro-life was reportedly 43 percent. That means that the pro-life movement’s efforts successfully changed the minds of 8 percent of women in one year. Needless to say, these are hard pills for abortion forces to swallow. Democrat-held states have countered the recognition by women and men that abortion is, in fact, the act of taking a human life with heinous laws. In places such as New York, babies can be denied life-saving care or killed if they are born alive in a botched abortion.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has insisted that being a Democrat includes a litmus test of whether or not a voter is pro-abortion. He has gone on the record stating that “every Democrat” must support abortion. Perez has made it clear that candidates that do not support abortion-on-demand extremism stand alone. They will not receive campaign support. In Perez’s words, “That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.”
At the state level, pro-life moderates continue to go it alone with the understanding they could face pro-abortion primary challengers backed by national campaign funding. The facts that have emerged about the nefarious actions of abortion clinics selling the bodies of dead fetuses to the highest bidder has blighted the left’s propaganda. In 2019, movies such as Unplanned have taken true-life stories and connected with the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
That particular film covers the real-life story of Abby Johnson, who works for Planned Parenthood until she witnesses the desperate act of a child fighting for life in the womb. After witnessing the heart-wrenching abortion, she is transformed into a powerful pro-life advocate. These concise messages have resonated across the American landscape. In Pennsylvania, five people resigned from abortion clinics in connection with a 40 Days for Life push in 855 cities.
“Even if it was just one (baby saved), it was all worth it,” former Planned Parenthood manager Sue Thayer reportedly said. The 40 Days for Life outreach saved upwards of 700 lives in less than two months by offering support and alternative solutions to women who would otherwise suffer the guilt of killing their own child for the rest of their lives.
