Has Abortion Culture Changed How We See Children? | The Brief

The total volume and rate of abortions across the United States have actually increased nationally since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2023. That's according to data from the Guttmacher Institute and the Society of Family Planning. So the national total rose from about 1 million to over 1.1 million in 2025. What accounts for the rise in the rate of abortions? And does this mean support or acceptance of abortion is also on the rise? Yeah, absolutely. That's a good question. So while overturning Roe did allow us to save a lot of babies, over 200,000 babies have been saved. Abortions do continue to increase. Now we don't have a national abortion reporting law, so any data we're receiving is data that abortion facilities are voluntarily giving up. So we're always a bit skeptical, but no, absolutely, we do have a crisis. And one of the main factors in this crisis is the chemical abortion pill, which now accounts for a majority of all abortions. And so you're able to order this pill like Amazon. I could right now order it on my laptop and get it shipped to me. No verification of my age. I could be a sex trafficker abuser. And I actually did this undercover last fall. I've done it two times now. One time I post as a minor, and one time I post as an abuser. And I'm holding these pills today. They were sent to me with absolutely no instructions. The first pill in here, epipristone, starves the baby to death of nutrients. The second pill, misoprostol, induces contractions. And women are typically instructed to have the baby in the toilet and flush the baby down the toilet. And so, absolutely, we have to go after these. And so one of the things we do is we pass our Anti-Chemical Abortion Trafficking Act laws in these states, which criminalizes those who are shipping these drugs illegally into pro-life states. But, no, absolutely, chemical abortion is a huge reason why abortion rates continue to rise. But also, I think, at the end of the day, it goes back to that selfish culture, where young women, I mean, I was pro-choice once myself, were being told that abortion is health care, it's freedom, that children are a burden, and that we're better off without them. It's a very sad thing that I encounter constantly on college campuses, just this lack of value for human life. I mean, that lack of value has prompted the left to become so violent and extreme. And I mean, that's the same violence that killed Charlie Kirk a year ago. And it's absolutely horrific to see just this normalization of abortion. But not all faith is lost. There was a Gallup poll that came out last year that showed that there was an 11-point increase in pro-life identification amongst young people. So young people are becoming more pro-life from the middle, but there are also more people becoming pro-choice at the same time. So less people in the middle and not knowing how to feel about abortion, and it's becoming more polarized, which means the debates on college campuses have become more extreme and more intense, for sure. But it also means that people are finally willing to have a conversation and look into abortion. And we know that when young people seek out the truth about abortion, they'll become pro-life, just like I did. You know, I'm just curious, because you're talking about your campus tour, and needless to say, we're praying for you and the safety of all the students. But I'm just curious, your experience as a Gen Z woman debating on these campuses, especially post-Charlie Kirk, whether it's the violent attacks, whether it's the fact you have to wear a bulletproof vest, or whether it's you seeing more success in some of your arguments. What's it been like for you? I'll be completely honest with you. After Charlie was assassinated, we were going to cancel our pro-life speaking tours. I mean, the threat started coming in, saying that we're next, as we were a close ally with Charlie and the pro-life movement. And of course, our families were very worried about our safety. But the next day, after Charlie's death, we started reading more messages on social media. And yes, we read a lot of threats, but we also read the messages of people begging us to continue forward, to continue fighting and continuing carrying Charlie's torch on. And we realized we were going to have to fundraise for some extra security. I had to get fitted for a bulletproof vest, but we knew we couldn't back down. And since then, I mean, the conversation on campuses has exploded. It's tripled in size. I have students show up to my speaking tour stops. They'll be packing out the walkways. I've had to change venues because students have shut down campus by packing it out. And so people are hungry for the truth. But we are seeing more violence. I mean, I had Antifa show up to one of my campus tour stops at the University of Mary Washington and chant at me that they hope I get Charlie Kirked. And they called me a fascist. Ironically, none of them could define what a fascist is. But even in the midst of this, this violence, this extremism we see, people are becoming pro-life. I find that when young people hear the reality of abortion, they hear that a little baby in the womb in the first trimester has a heartbeat, has fingers and toes. They realize that they've been lied to, that they were told it's just a clump of cells. And then also when they hear the reality that women are hurting from abortion, that it's not this empowering thing that women are taught. When they hear those real stories of women who were killed by abortion, of women who regret their abortion, young people realize, wait, maybe abortion isn't about women's rights. Maybe it's about killing pre-born women in the womb and harming their mothers too. So young people are absolutely waking up and we're really excited. We now have over 1,700 Students for Life groups nationwide. These are young people on campuses that are excited to continue spreading the pro-life message. And they're certainly not backing down in the face of violence. So I'm really excited. I'm about to kick off another fall speaking tour this semester and I'll be putting the bulletproof vest back on. But we're certainly going to keep fighting for life because we're saving babies and that's what matters. So before we wrap up into this, I'll stop talking. I do see a direct line between the Lindsay Clancy trial and abortion. Do you think we're kind of trending in this direction where many women are trying to normalize infanticide as they've done to abortion? Meaning once you've normalized killing a fetus, it's very easy to start normalizing killing a person once they're out of their mother's womb? Absolutely. I mean, unfortunately, we've seen human sacrifice throughout history. And we thought that it was just to ancient times, but we're seeing it happen now. No, we're not sacrificing children to maybe the typical gods you hear about throughout history. But we are sacrificing these children on the altar of convenience, on the altar of bodily autonomy, on freedom. And so because of this, it really has just fueled our selfish culture. And I'm really worried for our society. I mean, the birth rates continue to decline. And that is going to be a huge problem. Problems we've seen other countries struggle with, like China, and that's going to start happening here. And so we need young women to realize that your work doesn't come from how much money you have. It doesn't come from just being a girl boss. It comes from being selfless and oftentimes a family. And I'm not saying every young woman has to have a family and children, but if we have closed ourself off to the idea that caring for children is this terrible thing. If we close our ideas off from the value of motherhood, that's a huge problem. And I think that's what it all comes down to, is that American culture is all about me. It's all about what makes you happy. And we forget that real joy in our culture actually comes from caring for other people. And that's what motherhood is. And it's a beautiful thing. And so absolutely, we are starting to normalize infanticide. I mean, we see this with Tim Walz, who repealed protections for babies who were born alive after failed abortions. If you watch that footage, they applauded for it. In Massachusetts, they just passed a law to legalize late term abortion. All the women at the bill signing were applauding for it. They are applauding for killing babies up until the moment of birth. And in Minnesota, after birth, there were nine babies born alive after failed abortions who were left to die. And there's absolutely nothing being done to protect them. That's the reality of our culture right now. And that's the snowball effect because it used to be, oh, we want abortion safe, legal and rare. Not anymore. Now it's abortion on demand through all nine months and even after birth. And so this Lindsey Clancy case of people who are supporting her killing her children, that's just a result of our pro-abortion culture, sadly.