The pro-life movement is getting more racially diverse, more secular and more educated. According to new research from the Public Religion Research Institute, anti-abortion advocates from the ages of 18-29 look significantly different from their senior counterparts. For their research, the institute compared several demographic factors from the Millennial group with pro-lifers over the age of 65.
Along with a slightly greater percentage of higher education rates, the most significant finding was that there are far fewer white Christians (37 percent) in the young antiabortion group versus the older one (78 percent). Younger anti-abortion advocates also include almost equal numbers of men and women, while the older group is composed of more females than males. And while the majority of both groups are still Evangelical Christian or Catholic, the younger group had a significantly larger portion of other religions or non-religious advocates.
It’s unclear whether these changes show a broader appeal of the movement or just reflect the changing demographics of the age group, but the increased diversity doesn’t mean the movement is growing in the younger generation: While 50 percent of older Americans believe abortion should be illegal, that view is shared by just 41 per cent of 18-to-29 year-olds.
