abortion

• Rock the Vote has a young voter score card for states
• Iowa is one of the top states in the country for access to voting and ease of voting for youth. Other states include North Carolina and Montana
• Why millennials can’t start their careers and baby boomers can’t end theirs.
  

  "It’s hard to say this spring whether it’s more difficult for the class of 2011 to enter the labor force or for the class of 1967 to leave it.

  Students now finishing their schooling—the class of 2011—are confronting a youth unemployment rate above 17 percent. The problem is compounding itself as those collecting high school or college degrees jostle for jobs with recent graduates still lacking steady work. “The biggest problem they face is, they are still competing with the class of 2010, 2009, and 2008,” says Matthew Segal, cofounder of Our Time, an advocacy group for young people.

  At the other end, millions of graying baby boomers—the class of 1967—are working longer than they intended because the financial meltdown vaporized the value of their homes and 401(k) plans. For every member of the millennial generation frustrated that she can’t start a career, there may be a baby boomer frustrated that he can’t end one."

• Care2 picks up our debunking of the "empowerment" of debt among youth with their story: Debt may not be so empowering after all
• After yesterday's story about the Iowa State Senator who told students lobbying for fair tuition to "go home" Campus Progress has launched a petition asking people to demand Republican Iowa State Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck apologize to Iowa's youth.
• WH reaches out to young voter roundtables

  

• This is so depressing - Are anti-depresents over prescribed to youth?
• Youth who watch MTV's Pregnancy Programs are more likely to support abortion according to a new survey (PDF) of viewers. Full disclosure ... after watching this show I believed very strongly in sterilization...
  

  "71 percent of "millennials" (ages 18 to 29) have seen a show about pregnancy.

  And 29 percent of millennials had seen, specifically, either "Teen Mom" or "16 and Pregnant." Among Americans overall, that number drops to 17 percent.

  But regardless of age, the study found that 65 percent of those shows' viewers support abortion -- among the general public, 56 percent support it."

• By that same token here is One Millennial's take on New Research around LGBT Rights and Abortion - The story on the research itself shows that youth tend to support choice and believe in its legality but believe its morally wrong. This will surly be critical messaging for choice groups in upcoming elections as they make their case to young voters.
  

  "Just under half of 18- to 29-year-olds say that abortion is morally acceptable, but six out of 10 say it should be legal in most or all cases, and nearly seven out of 10 say it should be available locally."

• NC House OKs blocking low-interest college loans
  

  "North Carolina's House of Representatives is sidestepping Gov. Beverly Perdue's veto by trying to allow more than two dozen community colleges to refuse to offer low-interest student loans. . . .

  College presidents say they worry they'll be cut off from federal financial aid programs if student loan defaults go too high. Community Colleges vice president Linda Weiner said each campus is responsible for student financial aid issues and presidents have the leeway to act on their concerns."

• By that same token - Wells Fargo has launched a fixed interest rate student loan program - I assume to compete with federal student loans? If you consolidate your federal student loan and lock in a rate that rate never changes. In 2007 Congress passed a bill that helped bring more sunshine to student loan companies. That Congress continued with a huge student loan overhaul and the fight continues today....
• More on the Student Loan bubble
• Personal story of a Tennessee youth who is young, gay and homeless
• The AFL-CIO hosts its second annual Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis
• Commentary: Is college worth it?
• The Roosevelt Institute is having a reception in DC this evening if you want to go here are the details
• The Senate HELP Committee released a staff discussion draft of Title I of the proposed Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization bill. SparkAction.org will feature Millennial stories on it as this moves forward.
• From the League of Young Voters 99Problems.org blog they pose the question - is our generation post racial? Given that we're the most diverse generation in American history this is a great question to ask.

The Knights of Columbus have a poll out (I know I know but go with me on this) that says that nearly 6 in 10 Millennials is anti-choice.

When I saw it I rolled my eyes a little because... how credible is a poll from the Knights of Columbus, right? I mean, we're not talking Newsweek Magazine or the CNN poll here. But a few different people have picked it up believing it is a credible scientific poll.

According to the details

"Data were collected from December 23, 2009 through January 4, 2010 using an online, probability-based panel..."

Imagine if we put up a poll on our website and asked you all to take it. That's about as scientific as this poll is.

Here is some real scientific data. From the Guttmacher Institute nearly a third of all unwanted pregnancies end in abortion.

• However, for the first time since the early 1990s, overall teen pregnancy rates increased in 2006, rising 3%. It is too soon to tell whether this reversal is simply a short-term fluctuation or the beginning of a long-term increase.
• Black and Hispanic women have the highest teen pregnancy rates (126 and 127 per 1,000 women aged 15–19, respectively); non-Hispanic whites have the lowest rate (44 per 1,000).
• The pregnancy rate among black teens decreased 45% between 1990 and 2005, more than the overall U.S. teen pregnancy rate declined during the same period (41%).
• Eighty-two percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned; they account for about one-fifth of all unintended pregnancies annually.
• Two-thirds of all teen pregnancies occur among 18–19-year-olds.
• The reasons teens give most frequently for having an abortion are concern about how having a baby would change their lives, inability to afford a baby now and feeling insufficiently mature to raise a child.
• Six in 10 minors who have abortions do so with at least one parent's knowledge. The great majority of parents support their daughter's decision to have an abortion.

Just some quick facts that are a little more realistic about where young people stand on abortion. While this poll wants people to believe that young people are against it, what it doesn't clarify is if young people are pro-choice. You can be against abortion AND pro-choice in fact... everyone I know who is pro-choice is against abortion. Secondly, the poll doesn't clarify if these same young people believe that abortion should be illegal or not. Many people are against abortion but recognize the right of other people to make their own choices about their health, but again the poll doesn't address that either.

Perhaps next time they could be a little more scientific, rather than attempting to manifest data to support their own political ideology.

Update: I don't pretend to believe that Huntsman's economic policies are going to be appealing to Millennials. But even so, the GOP is in such a bad strategic spot right now that merely talking about the economy represents a turn in the right direction. --Craig

In my last post, I used Frank Rich's column to point out the triumph of the economy over social and cultural issues in the national political conversation. In this one, I'll use a Times story on Gov. Jon Huntsman in Utah to look at a way forward among youth for the GOP, now handcuffed thanks to their inability to pursue social issues.

The majority of Utah's population is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (including Huntsman himself). Because of the church's staunch stance against the use of alcohol, the state's liquor laws have been extremely restrictive since the 1960s. But Huntsman is one Republican who wasn't afraid to sacrifice a social issue for the betterment of the economy.

The old law [in Utah]... required anyone who walked into a bar to first buy a membership card to the bar’s “private club,” which typically cost $10 to $15. Tourism and restaurant lobby groups complained for years, saying the law made the state seem unwelcoming to outsiders.

“One of our economic pillars is travel and tourism,” said Mr. Huntsman, whose family roots in Utah — and family fortune in the Huntman Corporation, a chemical manufacturer — made him prominent here long before he first ran for governor in 2004. “And if that’s going to be hampered by these jaded and old-fashioned views, then that’s going to impact the cash register and therefore our ability to fund the things that most citizens care deeply about, like our schools.”

Talk like that, at a time of economic pain and budget turmoil, gave the liquor proposal legs, and led to a compromise that would abolish the private club system while tightening rules intended to keep under-age drinkers out of the bars. It is the most sweeping overhaul of state alcohol law since the 1960s.

So here's the first lesson Huntsman is teaching his fellow Republicans, similar to what I argued in my earlier post -- in economic hardship, cultural issues are less important. While one might think this move on Huntsman's part would be political suicide in Utah, it was not. Huntsman's adjustment to the liquor law was made to push Utah's tourism-driven economy forward; the legislature met him halfway because they know their constituents care about their own economic situations, not whether people might be drinking alcohol miles away from them.

“It’s been a kindler, gentler session,” said State Representative David Litvack, a Democrat from Salt Lake City and the minority leader in the House. “Where we are economically has made a big difference.”

And then we get to the GOP's second lesson from Huntsman: If you're going to talk about social issues, moderation is the name of the game.

But there are hints that Mr. Huntsman’s message of moderation, especially given his popularity in the state, is resonating beyond the Legislature and drawing support among the broader population.

In February, for example, when the governor announced that he would support civil unions for gay couples, many politicians here braced for a backlash.

Utah voters had approved an amendment to the State Constitution in 2004 banning same-sex marriage or anything that might approximate it, and one opinion poll by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research in January said 70 percent of Utahans still opposed civil unions.

But the backlash never developed. Indeed, after his announcement, a poll by Deseret News/KSL-TV found that two-thirds of respondents said their opinion of the governor had not changed or had become more positive because of his position on civil unions. Over all, the governor’s approval rating had barely budged, with 80 percent of residents saying they thought he was doing a good job.

While civil unions are hella anachronistic in many parts of the country, the statistic above illustrates the big step Huntsman was taking when he announced his support for civil unions for gay couples. But again, in a tough economy, the public doesn't have the luxury of worrying about social issues.

What does this have to do with young people? Over the past couple weeks, many of the writers at FM have explored the impact of the economy on youth. Faced with student loan debt or in a financial situation that kept them from going to college in the first place, many young people are squeezed more each day in the job market, either being laid off or unable to find a steady job to pay the bills. Many are risking everything to hone entrepreneurial skills that might get them quick cash. If a Republican candidate can understand this and sacrifice conservative stands on social issues for some straight talk on the economy, like Huntsman has begun to do in Utah, the GOP might gain some relevance among youth.

Unfortunately, though, party boss Rush Limbaugh and his machine still control the GOP, and they'd rather become irrelevant among today's youth than give up dividing people.