“An emerging consensus in polling indicates that what we’ve all seen through the window into the womb has convinced a majority that preborn infants deserve a chance at life,” said Students for Life Action’s Kristan Hawkins.   

“A clear contrast can be seen between on the one side President Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi who push for abortion through all 9 months, with taxpayer funding, and with plans to strip the conscience rights of peaceful, pro-life Americans and those who believe that abortion activists have gone too far. If you like any limits on abortion, you never liked Roe.”  

WASHINGTON D.C. (07-19-2022) – From a gathering of Students for Life Action’s 50-state leadership team training, SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins called on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead the way in beginning a strategic campaign to protect life from an infant’s first heartbeats, especially considering new polling being circulated by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America this week.  “An emerging consensus in polling indicates real hope for a path forward in protecting life from its earliest days. In fact, we’ve found that SBA’s polling confirms what Students for Life Actions has been seeing in our own analysis.” The SBA polling reported at Axios notes that by “double-digit margins” voters prefer candidates who support “a heartbeat limit, a pain-capable limit, or a similarly protective gestational limit” as compared to “the position of abortion on demand until birth.” In fact, only 10 percent of the electorate favored leadership of abortion through all 9 months, for any reason, and with the conscience rights of pro-life Americans, people of faith who oppose being coerced to participate in acts of abortion violence.   

“SBA’s exciting poll confirms support for Heartbeat legislation that Students for Life of America’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement reported earlier this year,” noted Hawkins. “Contrasting interest in a candidate who supported Heartbeat legislation compared to one that supported abortion through all 9 months, 80 % (49% GOP and 31 % Democrat) said they would pick the candidate supporting protections from that early moment of existence. That 80 % number was identical to the math of those who would support a candidate embracing the gestational limit at 15 weeks, compared to abortion through all 9 months. People are clearly ready to see life protected in law.  

“Sen. McConnell, just as you lead the Senate through so many important Supreme Court nominations, we ask that today you lead us again in protecting life from those first heartbeats. On a battlefield or in an emergency room, usually we rush to save those with a heartbeat – the universal sign of life. We ask today that that the Senate take steps to protect those who are vulnerable to the political whims of Corporate Abortion and its powerful allies with Heartbeat legislation.  Americans are clearly ready to see life protected in law.”   

In SFLA’s own polling of Millennials and Gen Z voters earlier this year, now one-third of the electorate, provided evidence that a heartbeat matters to Millennials and Gen Z. As 52% indicated that after a baby’s heartbeat is detected, they wanted either no abortion at all or abortion only with exceptions made for rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger. That was up from 47% in 2021. MORE THAN HALF of Millennials and Gen Z said they would support a ban on abortion when a heartbeat is detected (52% to 48%). 

“Considering these new opportunities, we ask our Members of Congress to begin this new work of rebuilding a legal framework that shelters the most vulnerable among us,” Hawkins said. “As a result of the hard work of Senator McConnell and other on the Hill, we have come to a moment in which many new options for protecting life are available to us. No longer do we have to stand at the doors of the Supreme Court, waiting for them to let us protect life in law. Considering these new opportunities, we ask member of Congress to begin this new work of rebuilding a legal framework that shelters the most vulnerable among us.”   

Students for Life Action is appealing to Kentuckians to let McConnell know that they would value his support for Heartbeat legislation. To learn more, click here. 

For more about Students for Life Action’s post-Roe strategy, read:  

Hawkins’ opinion piece in Newsweek, titled: Forget the Kids’ Menu: The Pro-Life Movement Wants Real Policy Engagement   

Hawkins’ opinion piece at Fox, titled: RIP Roe: Supreme Court abortion ruling sets stage for what pro-life groups do next  

Politico article, title: ‘A post-Roe strategy’: The next phase of the abortion fight has already begun  

Washington Post article, title: The next frontier for the antiabortion movement  

For interviews, contact Kristi Hamrick at [email protected] or  [email protected]  

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization and a political and policy operation engaging people of all ages. Together they work to end abortion — the human rights issue of our day — and provide political, legal, and community support for women and their children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA has more than 1,250 groups on middle, high school, college, university, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to connect those most targeted for abortion with people ready to help and builds a framework for political engagement on their behalf. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry than any other pro-life outreach in the world, reaching more than 2 million people across social media platforms each week and engaging in approximately 100,000 digital conversations per month. Over more than 15 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA into an $18 million organization preparing for a Post-Roe America.