Subject: Reversing the Gender Gap: Being Pro-Woman and Pro-Life, Part I
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Reversing the Gender Gap
The Essential Guide for Pro-Life Candidates
Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from our guide
for pro-life candidates, Reversing the Gender Gap, which we are
publishing in installments.
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for office, or who are already in office. If you missed the
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Being Pro-Woman and
Pro-Life, Part I
The abortion debate has typically been framed as a conflict between the rights of women and the rights of unborn children. This misleading conflict needlessly polarizes public opinion.1
It is both inaccurate and detrimental to accept this definition of the debate.
Instead, pro-woman/pro-life candidates-and all pro-life supporters-must
remind compassionate Americans of abortion's destruction to both women and their unborn
children. Polls show that voters are increasingly aware of abortion's harm to
women, including the injustice of coerced, unwanted abortions.
A growing body of evidence
verifies that women do not want abortions, that
abortion does not help them or serve their needs or desires, that abortion is a
form of injustice to women and their unborn children, and that abortion harms
everyone involved.2
While the right to life must be protected, we must also respect and address the needs, desires, and rights of the woman. They are not mutually exclusive. We are making progress toward addressing these needs, but further efforts are needed to protect the rights of women, especially in situations where they may face unwanted or even violently forced abortions.
In addition, where appropriate, we need government policies that address the needs and concerns of women personally and on a societal level. Our poll shows that most Americans support making post-abortion counseling available for women and research into abortion's impact on women.
To properly frame the political debate, we must insist that the true nature of
the abortion conflict is between the rights and well-being of mothers and their
unborn children, versus the profits of the abortion industry and the agenda of
radical population control ideologues who are exploiting women to achieve their
goals. In doing so, we need to be mindful of the deeply personal, painful and
highly varied experiences of women who had abortions, and those around them who
have also been affected by abortion.
One of our core messages must be:
Abortion is destructive not only to unborn children but to the women, men and families involved. It is time to end the injustice, offer real choices, and open the door to healing.
Reframing the abortion debate
as an injustice to both unborn children and their mothers is not difficult. But it does require pro-life politicians to become
familiar with new facts, important position statements, and key
messages for mass media, in addition to pro-woman/pro-life legislative
proposals. This
booklet is designed to help you do that.
Keep this pro-woman/pro-life framework in
mind at all times. You are on the side of both women and their unborn children. You are
protecting the rights of both from the abuse of coercion, abandonment,
disinformation and professional
negligence that leads to countless abortions-abortions that are dangerous and
often unwanted-for the benefit and profit of others.
This general theme must come
through in everything you say and do. As pro-lifers, we must be aggressively
pro-woman as well. So how do we convey this to the public, especially in the
face of efforts by the media or abortion advocates to pigeonhole pro-lifers as
caring more about unborn children than about women? The following will help you
to tap into the underlying public sentiments discussed in the previous section
in order to convey your pro-woman/pro-life message.
A Two-Phased Campaign
In general, people can only absorb a few ideas at a time. So we have divided the most important themes for a pro-woman/pro-life campaign into two phases. Each phase has an emotional, factual, and public policy element.
In the early phase of raising public awareness about these issues, you may want
to stick just to the themes described in Phase One. Repetition of these
important themes is extremely important. This will also help you to master the
ability to convey these messages in a powerfully moving, compassionate way.
As the public becomes familiar
with the messages from the first phase, either because of your
efforts or that of other political leaders or pro-woman/pro-life groups, you can move
on to the second phase. During the second phase, you should still mention and
reinforce the messages from the first phase, at least in some way, but you may
not need to elaborate on them to the same degree.
Please note that the messages
described for each phase describe the theme of that phase, not necessarily the actual wording.
Additional, and sometimes better, wordings are presented in the last section of
this booklet, which also addresses other themes that can be developed as this
issue matures in the public mind.
Phase One:
For Women, Against Abuse,
For Responsible Doctors
These are the most important,
foundational messages of all. It is especially important for you to become
thoroughly imbued with the Phase One messages, as you will find occasions to
come back to them time and again.
Emotional Connection
"Most women who undergo abortions do so because of pressure, abandonment, lack of support, disinformation, and other forms of coercion.
Coercion is significant, comes from all sides and can escalate to violence. Women who have had abortions are at risk for trauma, depression, suicidal thoughts, feelings of isolation and grief, and other problems. I truly care about helping those who are coerced into unwanted abortions, those who are deceptively informed about the nature of abortion and the risks and alternatives, and those who are trying to put their lives back together after an abortion."
Factual Context – Most
Abortions Involve Some Form of Coercion
In a major survey of American women who had abortions, 64 percent reported that they felt pressured by others to abort.1 Many abortions are the result of pressure, threats, abandonment, lack of support, emotional blackmail, and other forms of coercion.2 Coercion can be multi-faceted and
even systemic, with abortion counselors, licensed professionals or trusted experts offering misleading or incomplete information or even presenting false information as fact.
In addition, coercion can lead to violence. Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women, and there have been many reported cases of women being killed or physically assaulted for refusing to abort.3 Coercion and forced abortions are a form of domestic violence, yet abortion clinics are failing to protect the rights of women from the injustice of being pressured or forced into unwanted abortions.
Disinformation about fetal development, the risks of abortion, and viable alternatives to abortion, especially when presented by those in positions of authority, is also coercive.4 Abortion clinics often fail to present women with this information or present false information as fact. The survey of women who had abortions, mentioned above, found that:
-
more than 50 percent felt rushed or uncertain about the abortion,
-
79 percent said they were not counseled on alternatives to abortion,
-
84 percent said they did not receive adequate counseling before abortion, and
-
67 percent said they received no counseling.1
Public Policy Position
No woman should ever be
pressured, coerced, or forced to undergo an unwanted abortion. The abortion
industry should be required to put the welfare of women ahead of their profit
margins. If they fail to screen for coercion, or to protect the rights of women
who are being coerced into unwanted abortions, they should be held liable for
the wrongful deaths of these women's wanted children and for the subsequent
trauma experienced by the mothers.
Phase Two:
Abortion Hurts Women, Women Deserve Better, Let's Create a Healing Environment
Factual Context
Millions of women have been hurt by coercion and other forms of abuse and by the
trauma of
abortion:
physically, psychologically, and
socially. Many have been unjustly pressured or forced into unwanted abortions,
or endured mistreatment before, during, and after abortion. Abortion is linked
with higher rates of depression, suicide, substance abuse, and other forms of
emotional trauma.5 Physical effects include risks to future fertility and an
increase in premature births, which are the leading cause of death and
disability among newborns.6
The aftereffects of abortion and other abuses go even beyond injuring women; they also hurt their loved ones. Unresolved abortion can hurt marriages and families7 and can negatively impact parenting skills.8 Many men and families also grieve the loss of a child or have watched a sister, daughter, mother or friend suffering as a result of coercion, unethical medical practices or post-abortion grief, trauma, injury and even death. Death rates – including suicide rates – are higher among women who have abortions compared to those who carry to term.9
Emotional Connection
"Whenever a woman becomes pregnant, she deserves real support and viable options,
not snap judgments, condemnation, abandonment, lack of support, or coercion. Many women have reported that they would have carried the pregnancy to term under better circumstances or with more support from those around them. Others were pushed or even forced into abortion against their wills.
Millions of women and their families suffer physically and emotionally from pregnancy- and abortion-related abuse and injustice and the traumatic aftermath of abortion. Abortion is
an injustice to women and often leaves them physically and emotionally scarred. It is a sign that we have failed to give women the support they deserve
and need to have their children. Women – and their unborn children – deserve better than abortion."Public Policy Position
We need to create a more healing environment for those who are suffering from the aftermath of abuse, traumatic and unwanted abortions, and the loss of a child. We need to support more post-abortion counseling programs and more research to better understand abortion complications and treatments. We need to be mindful of the abuse, injustice, coercion, and other obstacles that often lead to abortion and to work to end these injustices and offer real support and meaningful options. Women deserve better than abortion.
To be continued in the next segment. To read previous segments, click here.
Citations
1. D. Reardon, Making Abortion Rare: A Healing Strategy for a Divided Nation (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 1996).
2. For anecdotal evidence, research and information, see the web site www.unchoice.info, and especially the Forced Abortion in America special reported posted at www.unchoice.info/Coerced.htm.
3. I.L. Horton and D. Cheng, "Enhanced Surveillance for Pregnancy-Associated Mortality-Maryland, 1993-1998," JAMA 285(11): 1455-1459 (2001); see also J. Mcfarlane et. al., "Abuse During Pregnancy and Femicide: Urgent Implications for Women's Health," Obstetrics & Gynecology 100: 27-36 (2002). For reports on individual cases, see the Forced Abortion in America special reported at www.unchoice.info/Coerced.htm.
4. M. Tankard Reist, Giving Sorrow Words: Women's Stories of Grief After Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2007) 167.
5. For citations to published studies, see the Research Booklet posted at www.unchoice.info/pblresearch.htm.
6. See T. Strahan, Detrimental Effects of Abortion: An Annotated Bibliography (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2000). See also the Research Booklet posted at www.unchoice.info/pblresearch.htm.
7. See T. Strahan, Detrimental Effects of Abortion: An Annotated Bibliography (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2000).
8. PK Coleman, et. al., "The Quality of the Caregiving Environment and Child Developmental Outcomes Associated with Maternal History of Abortion Using the NLSY Data," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 43(6):743-57, 2002; and PK Coleman et. al., "Induced Abortion and Child-Directed Aggression Among Mothers of Maltreated Children," Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology, 6(2), 2007.
9. Gissler M., et. al., "Pregnancy Associated Deaths in Finland 1987-1994 – definition problems and benefits of record linkage," Acta Obsetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 76:651-657, 1997; Gissler, Hemminki & Lonnqvist, "Suicides after pregnancy in Finland, 1987-94: register linkage study," British Journal of Medicine 313:1431-4, 1996, and M. Gissler, "Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000," European J. Public Health 15(5):459-63, 2005. See also DC Reardon et. al., "Deaths Associated With Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women," Southern Medical Journal 95(8):834-41, Aug. 2002.
Hard copies of Reversing the Gender Gap are available from the Elliot Institute for $5.00 each (bulk pricing is available). Find out more about other Elliot Institute books and resources – including free downloadable materials – at www.unchoice.info/resources.htm. To place an order, call 1-888-412-2676.
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