Let’s get past that Salon headline about millennials

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You know, this one:  “Do millennials care about abortion?”

I’m not a millennial (noooo, I’m part of Generation Catalano) but my answer would be duh. Yes. Millennials care. Young people care. And that has been the general outcry and response since Nancy Keenan’s comments a few years back about young feminists getting complacent on Roe. The subject was raised again in this week’s Salon article, and ate up a lot of social media juice. But that does a disservice to Irin Carmon‘s smart interview with Keenan, which covers politics past and present as Keenan reflects and prepares to retire as NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Particularly striking are her thoughts on complexity:

[Carmon:] When you say [abortion]‘s not black and white and the pro-choice movement has been too black and white, are you saying it needs to be more compromising?

[Keenan:] No, absolutely not. It’s not about compromising. It’s about recognizing that women who choose abortion care are also women of faith. And don’t let the other side own that. We, too, are women in this country, many women in this country, some that don’t believe –  but it’s to say, only she can decide. And don’t give up the ground that we are not good people and people of faith. That’s the point here. It’s not about compromising on the issue of making sure that abortion is safe and legal in this country … Women who choose to have abortions in this country are moral and good people and none of us, no one, should judge her on that decision.

Read on.

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