More than 40 years after abortion became legal in this country, and more than a decade after embryonic stem-cell research was touted as the next big thing in regenerative medicine, why are more people shying away from these options?
One of the big reasons people are turning toward a more pro-life perspective can be summed up in a single word: Technology.
Whether its ultrasound technology or the significant advances in the treatment of more than 70 diseases and conditions using ethical forms of stem-cell research — as opposed to an absence of technological development using life-destroying, embryonic stem-cell research— technology has been slowly but significantly shaping the way we view preborn life in this country.
Recent polls indicate people across generations want to see fewer abortions. Among those in the 18-29 age range, one such poll said the view that abortion should be "illegal in all circumstances" has gone up 9 percentage points — from 14 to 23 percent — since the early '90s.
Kristan Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America, says as ultrasound technology becomes more widely available, it's making a difference in how young people view the issue of life. In fact, the younger generation has never been as pro-life as it is today.
"Ultrasound technology has played a big part in helping to make this generation pro-life," she says. "When you speak to women who had abortions in the 1970s and '80s, they will tell you that the abortionist told them their baby was simply a blob of tissue."
Today, abortionists may still try to use that old rhetoric, but thanks to technological advances, a woman can go online and within minutes see how her child is developing. "They can no longer deny that the unborn child is a baby," Hawkins says.
Ultrasound technology has forced the pro-abortion movement to shift its talking points from "It's not a baby or human" to "It's not a person."
Ultrasounds provide a concrete example of what the pro-life movement has always known: A pregnant woman is carrying a human life. Since abortion proponents can no longer deny this reality, they hold on to the flimsy argument that thelocation and stage of development makes pre-born life undeserving of the respect and protection we give to other humans. Thankfully, that line of thinking is rapidly losing ground – due to the wonders of technology.