Top Five Ways Millennials Are Changing the Pro-Life Movement

4. The Outreach is Changing

Many long time pro-lifers have engaged in activism such as protesting with signs and sidewalk counseling, along with prayer. This kind of outreach can only go so far, and millennial pro-lifers are bringing a different set of tools to the cause.

Herndon-De La Rosa’s message is one of empowerment, one that appeals to women’s strengths. She revealed that as a teenager she became pregnant herself, and was fortunate to have a support system that enabled her to have her child. She recalled that other teenagers she knew who chose abortion did so because they felt that they “had no choice.” Her goal is to foster feminist courage in the face of unplanned pregnancies, and help create the support systems necessary to assist pregnant women who would otherwise choose abortion.

Herndon-De La Rosa also believes that new tactics are needed to make the pro-life case. She tries to inject appropriate her speaking appearances without trivializing the seriousness of her message. She makes NWF’s drop cards available on Vista Print for anyone who wishes to distribute them. She points to success in bringing mobile sonogram units to pregnant women so that they can see “literally see the humanity inside the womb.”

Feminists for Life has started a college outreach program, not only to spread pro-life ideas, but also support services onto campuses. Foster observes that new tactics are helping the movement gain ground, especially among millennials.

Kelsey Hazzard also observed that outreach tailored to millennials is seeing success. “Millennials are leading the way forward, building on the strong foundation gifted to us by the pioneering generation of pro-life activists. There’s no doubt young adults strongly prefer pro-life arguments grounded in science and human rights rather than religion.”

5. Social Media

Facebook and other social media have been indispensable for these pro-life groups in sharing their message.

“Millennials are more pro-life than our parents’ generation,” said Hazzard.  At the same time, the pro-life generation is married to social media. The influence social media has had on the pro-life movement cannot be overestimated. Secular Pro-Life itself couldn’t have come into being without Facebook; pro-life atheists and agnostics are geographically scattered don’t have a physical infrastructure (like churches) to find one another. Social media has allowed us to band together and speak with a unified voice.”

Herndon De La Rosa also commented that her organization relies on social media, and that it brings out closet pro-lifers when they realize they’re not alone. She believes that the old guard feminism is “contrived,” and “exploits women.” “I call them tumblr feminists,” she said, “they’re always shutting down dialog.” She wants to convert women from a mentality of victimhood to one of independence.

Social media provides not only a platform for dialog, but also a camaraderie among pro-lifers themselves.

“We have a direct megaphone to pro-lifers who would not see themselves as feminists, and feminists who had no idea that they walk in the shoes of their pro-life feminist foremothers,” said Foster, regarding Facebook and other social media.

 

So the March for Life 2017 will occur in D.C. this weekend, and, as usual there will be complaints that the mainstream media barely notices except to downplay attendance. But perhaps pro-lifers should stop worrying about whether CNN pays them any attention. They’re making progress anyway.