Talking Points: Abortion Care
The right to control your own body in accordance with your own beliefs.
People are worried because Glenn Youngkin is putting big money into ad buys on abortion in VA. Actually, he made a strategic mistake. We know that if the election is about abortion, we win. We have succeeded in changing the focus of the debate from the fetus to the woman. We must continue to evoke empathy for women who need abortion care to protect their health and life, but we must also frame the debate in terms of the universal American values of freedom and equality.
Welcome to Democrats Fight Back! Abortion Care Edition
The reproductive rights advocacy community has made big strides in messaging on this issue and we’re seeing the results in places like Kansas, Wisconsin, and Ohio. We’ll look at the language and phrasing from some of these campaigns and break down the reframing strategies that make it work. Then we’ll provide more values-based talking points and guidance on specific wording.
Reframing Strategies:
Change the perspective from the point of view of the fetus to the point of view of the woman.
Don’t take the bait. Never ever get drawn into debates about “when life begins.”
Hold your position. Portray their position as extreme while fighting their attempts to portray their position as one of “compromise.”
Destigmatize and normalize. It’s okay to say “abortion.”
Contextualize abortion care by listing it with other reproductive health care.
Associate and repeat. Use the term “abortion care” to associate abortion with health care.
Evoke empathy. Use emotional narratives to keep the focus on women.
Verbalize our values. Make it a larger moral issue by explicitly evoking universal values like freedom and equality and by raising questions of constitutionality.
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Successful Language
Copy from ads against the Kansas abortion referendum:
“Do no harm. That’s the oath we take as doctors… The government wants to force doctors in Kansas to break that oath by passing a constitutional amendment that could put a mother’s life at risk.”
“It’s a government mandate that could ban all abortions, with no exceptions, even rape and incest,” “That’s extreme. It goes too far.”
“It’s a strict government mandate designed to interfere with private medical decisions, a slippery slope that could put more of your individual and personal rights at risk.”
“Growing up Catholic we didn’t talk about abortion, but now it’s on the ballot, and we can no longer ignore it… If it were my granddaughter, I wouldn’t want the government making that decision for her.”
“I’m voting ‘no’ on the proposed amendment because it replaces religious freedom with government control.”
Text from the upcoming “Issue One” constitutional amendment in Ohio:
"Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including… decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion."
Ads for Wisconsin Judge Janet Protasiewicz
"Women should have the freedom to make their own decisions on abortion."
“Takes away women's rights.”
“Criminalizes abortion.”
“Severe health complications”
“Daniel Kelly doesn’t believe women should have that freedom.”
“Someone you love might struggle with a pregnancy.”
Reframing Strategies
(If you have taken my training, you already know this bit!)
When we use words together, their frames -- the parts of people’s brains associated with those words -- switch on at the same time, creating a neural connection. Repeated exposure to sets of words reinforces the bond between them. This causes people to develop the habit of thinking of one word “in terms of” the other, or of seeing one word “from the perspective of” the other. This association happens automatically, even when we use those words together to explain that they shouldn’t be associated.
Reframing is about using words strategically to change those associations. We have to find the right words and repeat them over and over, to overwrite previous associations and establish new ones, ones that get people to feel and reason about situations the way that we want them to.
In this debate, we use these strategies to stop playing defense, normalize the language of abortion care, and to evoke empathy and universal values.
Stop Playing Defense
Change the perspective.
The whole debate changed when the perspective shifted from the point of view of the fetus to the point of view of the woman. Overturning Roe v Wade played a big part, but we also changed the debate by telling the stories of women whose rights were taken away and whose health and lives were placed at risk by these new bans on abortion care.
Only discuss the issue of abortion care from the perspective of the woman.
Use the term “woman” or “women” instead of “mother.” Calling the woman “the mother” still subconsciously defines her from the perspective of the fetus.
Don’t take the bait.
They called their movement “Pro-Life” to evoke the “Fetal Personhood” frame, which asserts that the fetus has all the rights of a living person. Their messaging is designed to keep the focus on the fetus by getting us to debate the question of “When does life begin?” Unfortunately, by merely engaging in that debate, win or lose, we keep people seeing the situation from the perspective of the fetus.
Never ever get drawn into debates about when life begins, even if you know you will win. Never use terms that have anything to do with the fetus, terms like “Unborn Child,” “Fetal Heartbeat,” and “Partial Birth,” not even to argue against them.
Hold your position.
Conservatives know they are losing this battle. Their latest strategy is to talk about a “compromise 15-week limit.” Their goal is to position themselves as “reasonable,” while positioning us as “extreme” with phrasing like “abortion on demand” and so on.
Do not take the bait! We already know that if we engage in any debate about how many weeks is enough, we put the focus right back on the fetus.
Never associate Republicans with the term “compromise,” not even to argue against it. Continue to portray them as unreasonable.
Normalize “Abortion Care”
Destigmatize and normalize.
For many years, we used terms like “pro-choice” to avoid negatives associated with the word “abortion.” Unfortunately, that meant that the only neural associations people had with “abortion” were the negative associations created by our opponents.
Fortunately, there has been a larger effort to destigmatize the term, both by having women tell their personal stories and by using the word itself without apology.
Double down. Keep repeating the word “abortion.” The more we activate the abortion frame in a positive context, the faster we will over-write those negative associations.
Contextualize.
“Voters generally are more receptive to statements like ‘We’re going to protect reproductive health care, including abortion’ than they would be to the word in isolation. That distinction is the key to Democratic success on the issue”
– Celinda Lake, Democratic Strategist
People react more positively to the idea of abortion when it is presented as merely one of several kinds of reproductive health care. The idea that the state would interfere in people’s decisions about contraception or fertility care seems intuitively wrong to most people. This association transfers that sense of “wrongness” to bans on abortion care.
Put abortion into the context of reproductive care by placing it in a list, the way they did in Ohio. For example: “contraception, fertility, pregnancy, miscarriage and abortion care."
Associate and repeat.
Our side tends to overlook the power of simple word association. If we want to create a positive association with the term abortion and put it into the larger context of health care, we can simply use the term “abortion care.” Many people already do this. The word “care” is inherently positive. We just need to make and reinforce the connection.
Use the term “abortion care” at every possible opportunity. We can use the term “abortion care” in virtually any occasion where we use the term abortion, as I have been throughout this newsletter.
The Big Reframe
Evoke empathy.
With stories about real harm to women being denied abortion care coming in from Red states across America, people are increasingly feeling empathy for women. Also, the “someone you love” strategy is effective because it compels people to judge from the perspective of an actual person they know and love.
Continue to use emotional narratives to keep the focus on, and generate empathy for, women.
Verbalize our values.
People make political decisions based on what they feel to be morally right or wrong. Values-based messaging is how we get people to feel that we are morally right.
As we tell these stories, we need to tell people that these harms are the direct result of a greater injustice: the violation of women’s fundamental rights to physical and medical self-determination: the immorality of the state forcing women to use their bodies in ways they don’t want their bodies to be used.
We have to make the case about universal values like freedom and equality.
Why? Because we have to fight for the rights of the overwhelming majority of women who need access to abortion care for reasons other than dire medical necessity. By evoking universal values, those everyone (including men) can relate to, we have the potential to broaden our support base into new demographics. This approach was very effective in the Kansas campaign.
Invoke the Constitution.
The Supreme Court threw out the right to privacy when they overturned Roe v. Wade. That doesn’t mean we can’t make other arguments. We have a valid case to make on the Thirteenth Amendment ban on involuntary servitude and the First Amendment ban on establishment of religion. It doesn’t even matter if these arguments are legally viable. All that matters is that they make people think and better yet, argue about them.
Values Based Talking Points
What is this debate about?
“Access to abortion care is about freedom and equality for women.”
“It’s about the fundamental and constitutional right to control your own body in accordance with your own beliefs.”
“It’s about the violation of women’s fundamental rights to physical and medical self-determination.”
“It’s about the immorality of the state forcing women to use their bodies in ways they don’t want their bodies to be used.”
Medical Necessity
“dire medical emergencies / severe health complications”
“doctors intimidated / afraid to lose their licenses / be sent to jail.”
“forced to wait until their lives are actually in danger”
“forced to carry unviable fetuses to term”
“put a woman’s life at risk”
“maternal mortality”
“later or second-term abortion care” (not “late-term”)
Freedom
“Americans believe in freedom”
“fundamental and constitutional right”
“first and most essential condition of being a free person”
“have sole authority over your own body”
Alternatives to the phrase bodily autonomy:
Bodily: bodily / individual / physical / medical
Autonomy: sovereignty / liberty / freedom / self-determination
For example:
“individual liberty”
“bodily sovereignty”
“physical liberty” or “physical freedom”
“physical and medical self-determination”
“bodily sovereignty is an essential condition of freedom”
“your right to physical and medical self-determination”
Government Intrusion
(government) “interfere with / take control over / intrude into”
“our freedom to make personal / private medical decisions”
“biological / medical surveillance”
“denied their right to / access to abortion care”
“right to decide / make decisions about…”
“…one’s own reproductive health including abortion care”
“…whether to continue / take on the risk of a pregnancy”
“strict government-mandate”
“extreme / total ban,” “goes too far”
“no exceptions for rape, incest, or the woman’s life”
“criminalize abortion care,” “putting women in jail”
“involuntary pregnancy”
“government mandated / forced pregnancy”
“forced to continue a pregnancy against their will”
“forced medical conscription”
“involuntary medical servitude” (violation of 13th Amendment)
“immorality / gross violation of human rights”
“no government has the right to…”
“…exert control over the bodies of American citizens”
“…make / force women / people to…”
“…use their bodies in ways they don’t want their bodies to be used”
“…do things with their bodies that they don’t want to do”
“…remain pregnant for months and go through labor against their will”
“We do not use other people’s bodies against their will.” (Not even to save the life of another person.)
“For many women, reproduction is not a relevant concern. However, many of us burn with a white-hot rage over the idea that someone else could tell us what we can or can’t do with our own bodies.”
- Antonia Scatton (and you can quote me on that)
Equality
“We do not question men’s rights to absolute bodily sovereignty. For women to be free and equal members of this society, they must have sole authority over their physical selves, just as men do.”
“We need to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). If women were truly free and equal members of American society, we wouldn’t have to ask permission from the government to make life or death decisions about our own bodies.”Re: Overturning Roe v. Wade: “It's an unprecedented loss of rights. A step backwards. For the first time in our history, the Supreme Court took away established rights. For the first time, younger generations, younger women, have fewer rights than their parents had.”
Freedom of Religion
“Bans on abortion care violate our first amendment right to freedom of religion. They violate the ban on establishment of religion.”
“Major religions disagree. Opposition to abortion is a religious belief held by some, but not all, of the major religions practiced in our pluralistic and free society.”“Banning abortion care is using government to force some people to live by other people’s religious beliefs. Laws that protect access to abortion care protect everyone’s right to live by their own religion.”
The Bottom Line:
Only discuss the issue of abortion care from the perspective of the woman. Never ever get drawn into debates about when life begins. Never use terms that have anything to do with the fetus. Never associate Republicans with the term “compromise,” not even to argue against it.
Keep repeating the word “abortion.” Put abortion into the context of reproductive care by placing it in a list with other forms of reproductive healthcare. Use the term “abortion care” at every possible opportunity to create positive associations between abortion and health care.
Continue to use emotional narratives to keep the focus on, and generate empathy for, women. Make the case about universal values like freedom, equality, and religious freedom.
More talking points to come! Thanks for reading and for everything you do!
Please help distribute these talking points to everyone with an interest in reframing our public debate and winning in Virginia!
Please let me know if you have any comments or compliments, questions about the talking points above, or requests for talking points on any particular topic.
If you would like to attend or host an in-person workshop or hire me for one-one communications consulting, please contact me at antonia@antoniascatton.com or call/text me at (202) 922-6647.
Dear Antonia; thank you so very much for your help and understanding today. I truly enjoy your work and will always be a fan. Here is the quote by Molly Ivins. "So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrages, ridicule the fraidy-cars, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." Molly Ivins. From my heart, that fits you perfectly. Thanks Luigi Brogna.
I love that you keep repeating the mantra about calling out “women” instead of “mothers” and not engaging with people about the right to life. Repeating the word abortion is very necessary to get our digs in, but so is abortion “care” which I will start using from now on. I do have one suggestion, however, and that is to include “girls” in our discussions. To me, that seems to hit people a little more.
I have been a longtime fighter for women’s rights, burned my bra, marched, was a volunteer for Planned Parenthood for many years, etc. I have also learned that when some people are ranting (about anything you don’t agree with), I look at them and say, “I believe you feel that way.”. People will stop talking and that forces them to think. I then leave.