Research Resources: The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Strategies and Tactics
Research Resources: The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Strategies and Tactics
As the anti-abortion movement is poised to achieved the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, it is important understand the strategies and tactics employed by the various sectors of the movement.
As the anti-abortion movement is poised to achieved the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, it is important understand the strategies and tactics employed by the various sectors of the movement. The following is a selection of articles from journalists covering the anti-abortion movement, and reports published by organizations that research the anti-abortion movement. Here you will find valuable insights into the evolving strategies and tactics of the various sectors of the anti-abortion movement.
Journalists Covering the Anti-Abortion Movement
How Texas Became Ground Zero in the Abortion Wars, by Andrea Grimes [Rewire News Group]
“..anti-choice rhetoric in Texas during those early post-Roe years took hold. From abortion-as-birth-control myths and “born-alive” propaganda to the “selling” of fetal tissue and the specter of “criminal” providers coercing and deceiving their patients, these narratives are deeply rooted in our collective political psyche—whether because many wrongly believe them or because many work tirelessly to combat them. The real impact of these narratives, and the abortion restrictions they fueled, on the women and young folks and pregnant people they’ve harmed have routinely come second (if they were noted at all) to campaign talking points and political careers. And so when George W. Bush and Rick Perry took office in Texas as governor and lieutenant governor in the mid- and late ’90s, respectively, the stage was set.”
Eyes on the Prize: How anti-abortionists in Georgia and elsewhere are building on a long-range plan, by Kalena Thomhave [The Progressive]
“Over the past half-century, anti-abortion activists have sometimes allowed exceptions for abortions in the case of rape or incest, or focused on banning “late-term” abortions and certain procedures. Portions of the pro-life movement have accepted this incremental approach, a state-based strategy to hinder access to abortion with onerous requirements on providers and patients that result in clinic closures and vast “abortion deserts” across the country. But their ultimate goal has always been overturning the right to safe, legal abortion. The new Supreme Court has convinced many on the Christian right that finally ending Roe v. Wade, or at least weakening it, is not only feasible, but inevitable. It is this direct strategy we are now seeing unfurl across the country—and there’s a reason it’s been so successful.”
No Sanctuary: Anti-Abortion “Abolitionists” Go to City Hall, by Cloee Cooper & Tina Vasquez [The Public Eye]
“Under the Trump administration, the reproductive rights movement has largely—and understandably—focused on the potential fall of Roe vs. Wade, and far less on the symbolic victories of groups like the abortion abolitionists. But it would be unwise to overlook the successful ways this network is mobilizing for policy and legislative change and building alliances across far-right sectors. Through their policy activism, abortion abolitionists are normalizing the criminalization of abortion at all stages and creating small but meaningful shifts toward theocracy. If history tells us anything, it’s that fanatical, uncompromising activists can push the Overton Window, creating space for political violence and moving ideas that once seemed radical from the margins to the mainstream.”
Organizational Reports on the Anti-Abortion Movement
Playing the Long Game: How the Christian Right Built Capacity to Undo Roe State By State [Political Research Associates]
“While eliminating the legal right to access to abortion has remained the primary policy objective of the anti-abortion movement, the movement has made calculated shifts in strategy to achieve that goal. In the late 1990s, the Christian Right shifted tactics to advocating for laws that would increasingly restrict access to abortion in an effort to create a de facto ban on abortion. During the mid-2010s, the Christian Right shifted tactics again to increasingly advocate for laws that prohibited physicians from using specific abortion procedures and laws that tested the constitutional limits of abortion bans based on the gestation of the pregnancy. In 2019, with the newly installed conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Christian Right shifted tactics and took direct aim at Roe v. Wade. Republican lawmakers introduced dozens of anti-abortion bills in state legislatures during the first three months of 2019, and there has been an unprecedented number of so-called fetal heartbeat bans.”
The Personhood Movement: Where It Comes From and What It Means For the Future of Choice [People For the American Way]
“The largest and best-funded groups opposing abortion rights have, over the past several years, achieved astounding success in chipping away at women’s access to legal abortion in the United States. But these successes, Personhood Alliance’s founders maintain, are too small and have come at a grave cost. In seeking mainstream approval for anti-choice politics, personhood advocates believe, groups like the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and Americans United for Life (AUL) have adopted a secular tone and downplayed their Christian origins. In focusing on drawing attention to issues like late-term abortion, they may have won some support for the cause but have done little to end the procedures they targeted. In seeking incremental successes, personhood advocates argue, the movement has given up on making a moral argument for the humanity of fertilized eggs and fetuses and lost sight of its larger goal of eliminating legal abortion entirely. But the greatest betrayal in the eyes of these personhood advocates is the willingness of major anti-choice groups to endorse legislation that includes exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest. The personhood movement’s leaders contend that these political concessions are not only immoral and intellectually inconsistent, but also threaten to undermine the movement’s goals in the long term.”
Designed to Deceive A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States [The Alliance]
“Investment of public money in CPCs is escalating, especially in the states, with virtually no government oversight, accountability, or transparency. Investigations into publicly-funded CPCs by advocates and watchdog groups have found evidence of misuse, waste, and potential skimming of funds in multiple states, including Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Yet CPCs continue to secure state contracts while the nature and quality of their services remains largely unexamined and unregulated by policymakers. States are also enabling CPCs to siphon public funds from safety-net programs for low-income pregnant people and children. In so doing, CPCs exacerbate the very economic scarcity they use to justify their encroachment into under-resourced neighborhoods and communities of color: the modern CPC industry has revitalized strategies to target Black women, who are more likely than white women to face barriers to medical care and pregnancy resources.”
