Strategy: Abortion Care and Physical Liberty
Our message strategy, and how to stop undermining our own position.
SAY THIS: Democrats believe that you have the right to control your own body according to your own beliefs, and that it’s the job of government to protect that right, not to violate it. That’s why I’ll be voting for Democrats in November.
DON’T SAY: “A woman and her doctor.”
Abortion Care and Physical Liberty, Part 1
There’s far too much to cover here, so I have broken this messaging memo into two parts. In PART 1, we’ll cover the STRATEGY: the key frames, setting the agenda, our values, our beliefs in the role of government, and what not to say and why. We’ll also cover the SCIENCE: the trigger words and phrases we want to use and the associations we are trying to create, and a few we don’t.
In PART 2, I will provide the SCRIPTS: the actual copy tailored for various formats, media channels and occasions.
The Strategy
What is the most effective way to persuade and motivate people? Rather than telling people that our opponents are wrong, we tell them what we believe to be morally right. If we get them to see a situation the way that we do, they will judge us and our position as morally right.
Key Frames
This is the perspective from which we want voters seeing and judging this situation:
Freedom, Physical Liberty (Bodily Autonomy)
Medical Consent, Medical Coercion, Involuntary Pregnancy
Religious Pluralism, Religious Freedom, Religious Persecution
Setting the Agenda
This is the subject matter we want people talking about. We actually want people to attack us for taking these positions. We draw attention by provoking people into the arguments we want to have. Learn more here.
Americans believe in freedom. Bodily self-determination is the first and most essential condition of being a free person.
Americans feel strongly about medical consent. We don’t use other people’s bodies against their will, not for any reason.
To be free, you must have sole authority over your own body. For women, that freedom requires access to contraception and abortion care.
We live in a pluralistic society. Our major religions have very different beliefs about when or whether it’s okay to terminate a pregnancy.
Americans believe in freedom of religion. It’s not right to use our government to force some people to live by other people’s religious beliefs.
PLEASE - Fer F***’s Sake - STOP SAYING THIS
These talking points are currently being circulated:
“Decisions about abortion belong with a patient, her family and her doctor, not the government.”
“He believes women’s reproductive health care decisions should be made by them and their doctors, not politicians.”
“Reproductive health care decisions belong to women and their doctors – it’s that simple. That’s why I’m voting for Biden-Harris.”
Even mentioning a doctor undermines our core argument: that nobody other than the woman has any right to determine what she chooses to do with her body.
The overwhelming majority of decisions about abortion have nothing to do with medical issues, so why do we keep talking about a doctor? We are unconsciously appeasing people who don’t trust women with their own bodies. It’s like we’re saying, “It’s okay! There’s a man there to help her make the right decision!”
We have a bad habit of trying to ward off opposition by subconsciously capitulating in advance.
JUST. PLEASE. STOP. Read more about this problem here.
Values
Democratic values are American values. Make our values explicit, rather than implying them or assuming people already agree with them. Learn more here.
Democrats believe in FREEDOM, the freedom to control what happens to your body, the freedom to make decisions according to your own beliefs, and freedom from being forced to live or act according to someone else’s beliefs.
The Role of Government
This is why we believe that it is appropriate to use the tools of government in this situation. These are larger themes that, with repetition, people will come to understand as “Democratic beliefs.” Learn more here.
As people who live together in this society, we have a responsibility to use the tools of government to PROTECT EACH OTHER’S RIGHTS, especially our right to freedom.
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The Science
How do we persuade people? How do we activate their internal motivation to support us without triggering their defenses?
We use trigger words to activate frames in their brains.
We use combinations of trigger words to associate (create a neurological connection between) a situation with the way we want people to see it.
We use repetition to strengthen those associations in people’s brains.
Learn more about the science here.
Physical Liberty
Our number one goal is to build up an association between DEMOCRATS (ourselves, our party, and our candidates), the concept of PHYSICAL LIBERTY (the frame) and the ABORTION ACCESS (the issue).
“Bodily autonomy” is the correct legal term, but it isn’t an effective trigger for most people. We can use a variety of trigger words and phrases to create the right associations, such as:
Physical Liberty (most effective)
Bodily Self-determination (descriptive)
Bodily Sovereignty (evokes ownership)
The right to control your own body. (plain speaking)
Sole authority over your own body / your physical self. (you and only you)
Also associate Democrats with:
Freedom, individual liberty,
Protecting, fighting for,
Everybody’s rights, fundamental rights,
Constitutional rights, constitutional freedom,
Medical consent, medical self-determination,
The right to health care,
Access to contraception and abortion care,
Freedom of religion.
Associate Republicans with:
Involuntary pregnancy, forced pregnancy, mandated pregnancy,
Physical coercion, medical coercion,
Forcing a woman to remain pregnant against her will,
Involuntary medical servitude,
Religious persecution,
Medical surveillance,
Violating, taking away, stripping women of… (the above-mentioned rights).
Access to Abortion Care
Always use the term ABORTION CARE to associate abortion with CARE as a whole and HEALTH CARE in particular.
It isn’t abortions that we need in order to be free. It’s ACCESS TO contraception and abortion care (reproductive health care) that we need to be free.
Also, it’s the DECISION that can be difficult. Once the decision is made, the procedure is safe, simple, and routine.
Associate abortion care with:
Safe,
Health care, medical care,
Life-saving, critical or emergency health care,
Medication abortion,
Simple outpatient procedure,
Reproductive health care,
Contraception, fertility, and prenatal care.
More What NOT to Say:
“life or health of the mother”
Always say, “the woman.” The term “mother” literally defines the woman from the perspective of the fetus.
“forced birth”
The word “birth” causes us to involuntarily visualize a fully developed baby being born. We do not want people visualizing a fetus at any point in the timeline, let alone a baby at nine months of development.
Do not engage in any discussion about the fetus or these terms, not even to refute them. Learn more about what NOT to say here.
NEXT: The Scripts
Messaging you can use as is, or tailor to your audience, culture, language, or voice.
THANK YOU, as always, for reading, subscribing, and all that you do to make our world a better place!
In solidarity,
Antonia
Contact me about communications consulting and custom content at antonia@antoniascatton.com or (202) 922-6647.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Actually, that's WHY this is the perfect argument. We WANT to push people's buttons. We absolutely want to activate their feelings about their "God-given individual right to reject the vaccine" because that is the perspective from which we want them to look at the issue of abortion access.
We would relish the opportunity to have a full blown discussion about bodily autonomy. It would allow us to remind people that at no point did we ever force anyone to take a vaccine. There were ALWAYS other alternatives, because we DO believe in bodily autonomy. It would allow us to articulate the real differences between a vaccine during a global pandemic and a woman's right to make decisions that impact no-one but herself and a small cluster of cells.
Provoking the argument that you want to have is not only necessary, it is the ONLY way to get the press to pay attention to what you are saying.
Great post! Keep them coming!