By Hunter Estes, Events Coordinator, Georgetown University Right to Life.
No matter what your feelings are on Donald Trump, his presidency presents an unprecedented opportunity to advance a comprehensive pro-life agenda. With pro-life leaders holding a majority in the House and Senate, Congress may now have a friend in the Oval Office who will sign off on pro-life legislation.
There is much work to be done on the national level. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan ought to make pro-life legislation a top priority. There is no question about the fact that Trump is a wild card; his presidency could go any number of directions, but a conservative Congress has the power to keep him in check (thank goodness for our Constitution).
McConnell ought to guarantee that Trump makes good on his promise to appoint originalist, pro-life justices, and Ryan ought to make it a priority to fully defend Planned Parenthood. The critical role of the Supreme Court cannot be undervalued. President Trump’s pick of justices could not only solidify an originalist bent to the court for decades to come, but also overturn Roe v. Wade.
On the state-level pro-life leaders have increased their already sizable majority of both gubernatorial seats, and state legislatures. Once Roe v. Wade is overturned, the power to legislate abortion will be sent back to the states, where it ought to be, and these state leaders will have a chance to help expunge abortion from our society.
In the next few years, we have the capability to advance a pro-life agenda both on the nation, and on the state-wide level, at an unprecedented rate for our country. We need to take full advantage of the opportunity at hand, by eliminating Roe v. Wade and getting rid of abortion once and for all; lives are counting on it.
Looking beyond just this current time of pro-life control of government, I am hopeful that pro-life policies will be here to stay. The fact is that the pro-life millennial is the new majority. If the 2016 election proved anything to us, it is that the college campus is not the greatest microcosm for public opinion in this nation. For if it were, we would currently have “President-elect Bernie Sanders.”
While in our bubbles it may seem like the pro-choice movement is louder and thus larger, surveys have shown a consistent increase in the number of young adults (between the ages of 18-31) who consider themselves pro-life, to the point where they now represent the majority. Advances in technology have allowed the younger generation to better understand just what’s at stake. The true existence of the human child has become all the more evident over the years. Pregnancy centers have taken on tremendous efforts to support families in need, and have proven to people that abortion is never the only option.
As the millennial generation rises to power in this country, these trends in opinion will soon be reflected by changes in our political landscape. That isn’t to say that there isn’t still a lot to work on now. There are still huge strides necessary to advance the pro-life fight and I look forward with hope to a world where all evils are eliminated. Yet, at least right now we have the chance to sign what may be the one good obituary ever written, the long overdue one for abortion.
I have faith, because I know that the future is pro-life, and one only needs to look to the emerging generation of leaders to prove it. I believe that the students of today can come together to be the pro-life leaders of tomorrow.
