My Generation Will End Abortion?…Yes! – Part 1

A little over a month ago was the March for Life in Washington D.C., “a peaceful demonstration to share the truth concerning the greatest human rights violation of our time, legalized abortion on demand.” This annual event is attended by hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade in 1973.

If you saw any of the media coverage of this year’s march—which was arguably slim at best—then you likely noticed more Millenials and teens in attendance than people age 50 and older. Having attended last year’s March, I can attest to the shifting demographic of those who march, which has trended increasingly younger for the past decade.

Had you been lucky enough to catch any media coverage of the march, you may also have seen placards reading “I am the pro-life generation” and “My generation will end abortion.” While these are clever and eye-catching slogans, they likely leave many of us who’ve lived with abortion all our lives wondering if they’re true. Are the youth of today truly “the pro-life generation”? And will they really end abortion in their lifetime?

The answer is yes. And here’s why.

I spend a great deal of time traveling and speaking in churches across America. As I talk about Human Coalition (HC) and the great inroads we are making to reach abortion-determined women and men with the intent of helping to rescue their babies, I tell audiences that HC is working to make abortion unthinkable and unavailable in our lifetime. Not surprisingly, I’m often met with raised eyebrows and some understandable skepticism. After all, an estimated 3,000+ babies are aborted every day…that’s approximately 1.2 million each year. Can we truly make this commonplace practice unthinkable and unavailable in our nation?

In this two-piece blog series, I will address this question from two fronts. First, from the legislative perspective—in particular, how a new generation of pro-life legislators are more committed to ending abortion than ever before. And in next week’s blog, I will highlight HC and the work we are doing in targeted markets where the abortion rates are some of the nation’s highest.

Let’s begin by unpacking the data in light of recent changes to the legislative landscape.

The year 2010 marked the beginning of a new era in the fight to end abortion on the legislative front, as 231 new abortion restrictions have been enacted nationwide since that time.

And 2015 was the most prolific year to date in terms of restricting abortion, with nearly 400 bills being introduced and 57 of them becoming law.

The most effective laws in terms of decreasing the number of abortions are those that extend waiting periods, require ambulatory surgical center standards in abortion clinics, enact parental consent requirements, and prohibit abortion after 20 weeks.

One of the most encouraging articles I’ve recently read addressed the impact that the Illinois Parental Notification Requirement Law has had on the number of minors having abortions. In its first full year since taking effect, this law is responsible for saving an estimated 500 babies from abortion. That’s 500 innocent lives who now have the chance to live, grow, and make their mark on this world.

So what is the aggregate result of all of these new laws, and do they really have any effect on the overall abortion rate? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes.

Since 2005, 33 states have reported increasingly lower abortion rates. Even more impressive is the fact that since 2010, the national abortion rate has dropped by 12 percent, with Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Oklahoma seeing the greatest declines of more than 15 percent.

Perhaps one of the greatest and most recent victories for the pro-life movement was the recent bill passed by the U.S. Congress—both the House and Senate—to strip Planned Parenthood of taxpayer funding. As expected, however, President Obama vetoed the bill.

Despite these pro-life victories, not all abortion-restriction laws get enacted without opposition.

Indeed, perhaps the most contentious fight against abortion regulations happened in my home state of Texas in 2013, when the state legislature passed the HB2 law requiring all abortion clinics to adhere to ambulatory surgical center requirements. According to the National Abortion Federation, the Texas HB2 law halved the number of abortion clinics in Texas from over 40 to approximately 19.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up this law and rule on its constitutionality during their next session. The Supreme Court’s decision “could influence the fate of some of the more than 200 abortion restrictions enacted since a Republican-led push began in 2011.”

As we all know, the Supreme Court is notorious for its unpredictability when it comes to the issues of life and states’ rights. Therefore, I urge you to join me in praying for a positive outcome for this case, so the commonsense abortion regulations of Texas—and those of many other states—will be upheld.

Although prayer is the first and most important step we can take in making abortion unthinkable and unavailable in our lifetime, there are many other simple practices that can help usher in an abortion-free generation.

In next week’s blog, I will address some of the inroads we’ve made at HC simply by applying best business practices in the fight to end abortion. I will also give you a few tips on how you can become part of the generation that will end abortion.

Thank you for standing on the front lines to end abortion in our lifetime. I look forward to sharing more encouraging insights with you next week.