WASHINGTON — While Republican lawmakers squabbled over a single bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the anti-abortion movement’s leadership found common ground Wednesday discussing long-term strategy at a summit in the nation’s capital.
Much media attention focused on the annual March for Life, when tens of thousands of anti-abortion protesters converged Thursday on the National Mall. But a small related conference the day before, held at a hotel one mile north, revealed significantly more about how the movement plans to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and eliminate abortion across the country. Advocates gathered at the Law of Life Summit discussed how their organizations can leverage law and the media to advance their cause.
Several themes emerged at the conference.
Co-Opt Feminism’s Messaging
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Lindsey Bachman, an attorney and vice chairman of the Vitae Foundation’s board, said that research by her organization had demonstrated that the movement’s traditional intimidation tactics didn’t achieve its ends.
“The Vitae Foundation has spent over $2.5 million researching what we call the right brain, or what is an abortion-minded woman thinking about when she walks into that clinic, what is going through her mind,” Bachman said. “We used to hold up signs and pictures of dead babies outside the clinic, gruesome pictures, and we’ve now learned that if you do that, she’s not only going to walk into the Planned Parenthood, she’s going to run. It’s absolutely ineffective.”
That research is backed up by the experience of those who stand outside clinics and try to dissuade patients not to obtain abortions, according to Lauren Muzyka, founder of Sidewalk Advocates for Life.
“The sidewalk is the greatest crossroads of life and death in our communities,” she said. “Peaceful sidewalk counseling gets results.”
