For what it's worth, I've looked up bios on all the pro-abortion women mentioned in this article about today's march for abortion rights in Washington, DC.
- Frances (or Francis?) Kissling -- President of Catholics for A Free Choice; directed family planning clinics in the 1970s; certainly over 50 years old.
- Carole Mehlman -- mentioned in the article; "68, came from Tampa, Fla., to support a cause that has motivated her to march for 30 years, as long as abortion has been legal. 'I just had to be here to fight for the next generation and the generation after that,' she said. 'We cannot let them take over our bodies, our health care, our lives.'"
- Nancy Pelosi -- California Representative, House Minority Leader; born 03/26/1940, 64 years old.
- Gloria Steinem -- feminist journalist; born March 25, 1934, 70 years old.
- Hillary Clinton -- Senator from New York; born October 26, 1947, 56 years old.
- Whoopi Goldberg -- actress; born November 13, 1955, 48 years old.
- Kathleen Turner -- actress; born 19 June 1954, 49 years old.
- Cybill Shepherd -- actress; born 18 February 1950, 54 years old.
- Kate Michelman -- President of NARAL, had an abortion in 1970 and has grandchildren; certainly over 50 years old.
The article also mentions one pro-life woman:
- Tabitha Warnica -- mentioned in the article; "36, of Phoenix, said she had two abortions when she was young. 'We don't have a choice. God is the only one who can decide,' she said."
Where are the young women pushing for the right to kill their babies? The abortion lobby/industry is a movement made up of old women who don't represent the future of America. Surveys indicate that abortion is losing acceptance among women as the bitter boomers die off and are replaced by younger, saner generations of women.
Future generations will look back on the 40 million babies killed over the past 30 years -- in America alone -- with disgust and revulsion. A quarter of my generation: dismembered and discarded. And people have the nerve to worry about spotted owls?
Update:
King of Fools points to a poll released by Zogby last friday:
In the Zogby poll, 60 percent of 18-29 year-olds took one of the pro-life positions on abortion while only 39 percent agreed with the three pro-abortion stances. Some twenty-six percent of young Americans said abortions should never be legal.On the question of whether abortion should not be permitted after the fetal heartbeat begins, 65.5% of 18-29 year-olds agreed, 46.9% strongly so.
FYI, while you and I have sparred over my semi-pro-abortion views, I'm stuck right now in an email war with my aunt who thinks I've been brainwashed by the "anti-choice" crowd. She also insists on using the word "abortion" to describe miscarriages as well as the voluntary kind.
Just thought you might like to know I'm an equal opportunity pisser-offer.
I almost forgot to mention this - my extreme pro-abortion aunt is well into her 60s, which fits your pattern perfectly.
X: Hm, I don't think you pissed me off regarding abortion. At least I don't recall being pissed.
It was a figure of speech.
James Taranto over at the Wall Street Journal describes this phenomenon as the "Roe Effect." In a nutshell, people that support abortion are more likely to have abortions, and people that oppose abortion are more like to bear children and raise them with similar beliefs. The result is that each new generation has progressively more pro-lifers.
I'd be interested in hearing a concise explanation of why this pro-choice is inherently a liberal platform.
i.e. If I say I support general liberal philosophy, why should I support abortion rights? What about liberal philosophy supports the rights of a mother over the rights of a child?
K: Yeah, I'm aware of it, and it's a great theory. He's not the first to come up with it, but he is publicising it quite a bit, which is excellent.
B: The crux of the issue is that pro-choicers don't believe the fetus/child has any rights. As science advances, their position that the unborn baby isn't a "human" is becoming untenable.
I live in metro DC. The old woman's march was just another ruined Sunday for locals who might have wanted to visit the national mall. BTW, if you look closely, it's a lot of the same faces down there no matter what the demonstration is about.
I believe in "free speech" but these folks are so muddled they're down there for all kinds of reasons at any one protest. In that regard they're protesting my right to enjoy a Sunday at the national mall, because they're keeping me away.
The good thing that I notice is more and more of them seem to be old and they can't live forever. I'm from the 60s generation too, but I've matured. They haven't. They've just gotten old.
You have given no evidence as such. Let's put on our critical thinking caps, shall we?
The leaders of high-profile womens' rights campaigns are older women. Does this mean that the only people campaigning for pro-choice abortion rights are older women? Or, does it simply mean that we live in a society that privileges older, experienced people as leaders. Hmmm.
This may be so, but your evidence is hardly conclusive. 51% with a 3% margin of error over a very small time period?
On the contrary, long-term data suggests a much different picture. Between 1975 and 2001, the percentage of people that believed abortion should "remain legal under certain circumstances" started at 54%, plunged to 48%, and ended at 58% in 2001.
Curiously, and contrary to your insinuation that pro-lifers are a dominant trend, the percentage of people between 1975 and 2001 that though abortion should never be legal dropped from 22% to 15%, while the percentage that thought it should always be legal, grew from 21 to 26%. (source: Gallup, via Bureau of Justice Statistics).
Thus, we see that the number of people "on the fence" has fluctuated around the same, while we've seen a steady shift of extremes, away from pro-life advocacy.
Further, some general statistics from the same BJS source from this decade:
In 2001, the percentage of people ages 18-29 that thought abortion should always be legal was 31%, up from 30% in 2000. The percentage that thought it should be "legal under certain circumstances" was 56%, up from 46% in 2000. The percentage that thought it should never be legal? 13%, down from 22%.
Women, specifically, showed the same shifts across the board from 2000-2001 as well.
In any event, this data should serve not to establish a trend, but to refute your claim of one.
The pro-choice crew has consistently argued that men can have no say on the issue because they are not the ones who have to bear children. If they truly accepte that argument, all of the post-menopausal protesters should stay at home.
It's Frances Kissling. God have mercy on her soul.
X - you should tell your aunt that if the abortion argument is all about controlling one's own body, then why are they getting pregnant?
How come they're not in control?
Even better, tell her if women spent more time considering what goes IN their bodies than they spend what goes ON their bodies, (makeup, shampoo, nail polish, etc.) there'd be very little to discuss.
In short, take responsibility. She wants it both ways, all the privileges, none of the responsibility.
And notice how rabidly pro-abortion these women are with their mean-spirited "Barbara Bush Had No Choice" signs. It's as though they have a lust for death and dismemberment.
Here's one for the photo album.
http://bunniediehl.worldmagblog.com/archives/003554.html
The reason old women are advocating for safe legal abortions is that they can remember when abortion was not legal. Young women I've talked to think abortion will always be legal since they've never known a time when it wasn't.