As we reflect on the 40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court’s
ruling in Roe v. Wade, the fact that young Americans are unaware
of the significance of the ruling – let alone, what it involves
– is quite startling. A Pew Center poll released earlier this
month found that only 44 percent of adults under the age of 30
know that Roe dealt with the issue of abortion rights. More
disturbingly, one in three young adults believe that the case
pertains to another issue, such as the death penalty,
environmental protection or school desegregation. Overall, 62
percent of Americans could correctly identify Roe as a case
dealing with abortion rights. One possible theory behind these
distressing statistics is that Millennials are the first
generation fully raised in an era in which abortions were legal.
As long as we have been alive women have had the ability to
terminate a pregnancy for any reason within the first three
months (and then potentially afterwards, depending on the
individual state’s laws).We weren’t alive when a