The Future is Pro-Choice

by shamanic

Following up on last week's post about Democrats and abortion, where I responded to Melinda Hennenberger's NYT column that claimed that Democrats are leaving many liberals behind with their pro-choice language, this caught my eye.

Today the Times has polling data on young Americans which finds, not surprisingly, that they generally take Democratic policy positions on issues like gay equality and universal health care. Additionally,

Their views on abortion mirror those of the public at large: 24 percent said it should not be permitted at all, while 38 percent said it should be made available but with greater restrictions. Thirty-seven percent said it should be generally available.

Got that? According to this poll, 75% of people between 17-29 believe in legal abortion. Some want more restrictions, but fundamentally they support safe, legal abortion in America. 75%!

To get numbers higher than that, you have to ask questions like "Do you like candy?" or "Aren't puppies cute?" And even then there's that perverse block of weirdos who hold the numbers to the upper-80s.

Melinda Hennenberger may feel left out of the Democratic caucus because of her position on abortion, but polling suggests that's because she's out of step with public opinion on an issue that has been screeched about and debated endlessly for decades. She simply couldn't be more wrong that the future of the Democratic Party is in anti-choice policy positions. That's because the future is pro-choice.