A Millennial Disconnect: A Shocking Number of Young People Don't Know What Roe v Wade Is About

ARLINGTON, VA — You might be surprised to find that many of your fellow Americans don't even know Roe v. Wade is the ruling that legalized abortion.  That suggests many opposing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh almost exclusively on the belief he might overturn the 1973 decision don't really know what they're fighting for.

Lawyer Steve Aden battles against abortion from his position at Americans United for Life.  But he and many others like him are backing Kavanaugh because of much more than just the pro-life cause. They argue he'll be good for America because of his views on the US Constitution.

"Brett Kavanaugh is a dyed-in-the-wool constitutional originalist. He cares more about what the Constitution actually says than about what the Supreme Court has said it says," Aden told CBN News.

But he wonders if many of those who oppose Kavanaugh strictly out of fear he'd help do away with Roe would be so staunchly opposed if they understood the ruling better.

"A Pew poll found that 57 percent of folks in their 20s didn't even know that Roe was about abortion," Aden stated. "It's a bumper sticker. If you put a microphone in front of somebody's face and say, 'Do you support Roe v. Wade?' what they hear is, 'Do you support women's rights?'"

This research shows many younger Americans believe the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion goes all the way back to the nation's founding.

Aden shared, "Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said in the media recently that most Millennials think that Roe v. Wade occurred shortly after the American Revolution. The point is, they're completely disconnected from their history."

When asked specific questions about abortion itself, the majority oppose it.   

"They have seen their siblings on ultrasound growing in the womb.  And you can't tell them that those babies are blobs of tissue," the AUL lawyer said of Millennials surveyed.

And now more are refusing to get abortions.

"Over the last 25 years, you have a 40 percent drop in the abortion rate in America," Aden noted. "Today, the abortion rate in America is the same as it was in 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade."

For those who fear Kavanaugh on the court because they want abortion kept legal, Aden pointed out even if the justices overturn Roe, it just means the abortion issue will return to the states.  And there the people and the legislators, rather than just nine Supreme Court justices, can decide its fate.