There’s a rare fissure within the pro-abortion movement. Young abortion advocates are upset with recent candid remarks from the pro-abortion chair of the Democratic Party.
As LifeNews reported yesterday, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz sat down with the New York Times for an interview and, asked if she saw an enthusiasm gap between younger and older women about pro-abortion presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Wasserman-Schultz immediately pivoted to abortion.
“Here’s what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided,” she said.
But Wasserman Schultz’s claim that young women don’t love abortion as much as they should and as much as older women who have been fighting for abortion for decades is not going over well with young abortion supporters.
In fact, one pro-abortion group is calling for her resignation in light of the comments.
The liberal group CREDO Action is demanding Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resign a day after the Florida representative accused millennials of “complacency” on abortion rights.
In a petition sent to the 3.9 million progressive activists the group claims as members, CREDO cited Schultz’s comments on abortion, which infuriated many liberals, as well as a litany of other offenses in calling for her to be removed.
CREDO also accused Schultz of “rigging the primary process to suppress Democratic turnout,” of “supporting warmongers by trying to undermine the president’s Iran deal,” and of courting special interest groups at odds with liberal values.
Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and the latest pro-life news.
“As DNC chair, you have repeatedly failed to act in the best interests of progressives and the Democratic Party,” the petition reads. “You have lost the trust of grassroots progressives and Democrats. Please resign immediately.”
Meanwhile, some abortion proponents are scrambling to make the claim that young people sufficiently love abortion — knowing the future of their movement is in peril if they admit the reality that millenials are pro-life. And one thing is for sure, some abortion advocates are ready to admit they really do love abortion.
“I love Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but I do disagree with her on this,” said Eleanor Smeal, founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation, an advocacy group that describes itself as “dedicated to women’s equality, reproductive health and nonviolence.” The organization also has a pro-abortion rights student network on college campuses.
“The young people not only turn out, they turn out bigger, and they vote consistently overwhelmingly for reproductive choice,” Smeal said.
“Not only are young people engaged in pro-choice activism, but they’re embracing abortion as something positive. They are more unapologetic about it and are really frustrated with many politicians including pro-choice ones who let abortion be used as a bargaining chip in legislative negotiations,” said Kierra Johnson, executive director of URGE, a group that focuses on encouraging young people to advocate “reproductive and gender equity.”
Wasserman Schultz later on Wednesday sought to clarify her comment. “We need women of every generation — mine included — to stand up and speak out, and that is the main message I sought to convey in that interview,” she said in a statement. “For many in my generation who lived the majority of our lives with the right to make our own health care choices, there wasn’t a sense of urgency after Roe v. Wade settled our right to a safe and legal abortion. Since then, opponents worked aggressively to chip away at women’s reproductive freedom and they have awakened a sleeping giant in the millennials leading the fight in defense of the progress we’ve made.”
Polling data is consistently showing the American people are pro-life.
A September CNN poll found 58 percent of Americans oppose all or almost all abortions.CNN found that 18% said abortion should be illegal. Then it separated out those who believe abortion should be legal in “a few cases” [40%] versus those who said abortion should be legal in “most cases” [13%]. Putting together those who said abortion should be illegal with those who said legal in a few cases, CNN found that 58% believe abortion “should be illegal in most” circumstances.
One other important point: The change from almost a month ago was the increase in the percentage that said abortion should be legal in only a few circumstances–from 37% to 40%–with a concomitant drop in those who said abortion should be legal in all circumstances–from 30% to 26%.
So while AP claims abortion support is on the rise, CNN shows it dropping.
In May, a new Gallup poll found a majority of Americans oppose all or most abortions even though some Americans who technically take a pro-life position opposing abortion wrongly think they are “pro-choice” on abortion.
Gallup confirms a majority of Americans oppose all or almost all abortions. When asked when abortion should be legal, 55 percent of Americans oppose all abortions or say abortion should only be legal in a “few circumstances,” typically defined as cases such as rape, incest or if the life of the mother is in danger. Since those cases constitute, at most, 1-2 percent of all abortion cases, Gallup’s numbers confirm 55 percent of Americans oppose 98 percent or more of the 1.1 million abortions that take place annually in the United States.
The poll makes it clear that even 27 percent of those who call themselves “pro-choice” actually take a pro-life position wanting all abortions illegal or abortion legal in only the very rarest cases. Just 9 percent of people who support unlimited abortion wrongly call themselves pro-life.
An April CBS News poll found 59% of Americans did not want abortion to be permitted or wanted much stricter limits.
