In my view, the pro-life movement is a human rights movement primarily concerned with overturning laws that legalize abortion, and instituting laws that encourage human flourishing.
Of course, those are beautiful worthwhile endeavors because laws that advance the common good help us form our young citizens in virtue.
But in terms of actually reducing the number of abortions every year, I don’t think laws will have that significant of an impact because the abortion industry can bypass those laws by distributing the abortion pill.
I think the bigger problem we pro-lifers have is the same one we’ve always had: young women facing unexpected pregnancies by and large are not aware of the existence of life-affirming organizations that provide alternatives to abortion.
In other words, we have a big marketing problem, and research shows this to be the case.
As I wrote in a recent newsletter, according to a study published in July 2015 by the Charlotte Lozier Institute called “Turning Hearts Toward Life II: New Market Research for Pregnancy Help Centers,” 93% of American women were familiar with the brand name Planned Parenthood, but only 8% were familiar with the brand name Option Line, the largest life-affirming national call center in the country.
As a thought experiment, imagine for a second that the pro-life community was made up primarily of professional marketers focused on reaching women with a persuasive message that choosing life for their preborn babies is always the most authentic empowering choice they can make.
In this thought experiment, the Charlotte Lozier’s report about the competitor’s 93% brand recognition versus our industry’s most well-known organization having only single digit 8% brand recognition would have spurred the pro-life community to massive action, because from a marketing perspective this enormous imbalance in brand recognition means only one thing – losing huge numbers of prospective young women clients to your competitor – which is exactly what has been happening year after year.
But the results of the report were never seriously discussed among leaders of pro-life organizations, and my guess is that you probably have never heard about the report.
On the other hand, if you’re active in pro-life, I bet not a day goes by when you don’t hear something about overturning laws that make abortion illegal.
Again, I want to be clear. Overturning egregiously immoral laws that allow for legal abortion is vitally important.
However, until the pro-life community in our country puts much more emphasis on effectively marketing to the young women who are the clients making the choice between abortion or carrying their pregnancy to term, then I’m afraid we will likely continue to see Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry’s numbers increase year after year, no matter what laws are in place that make abortion illegal.
This article was published in Heroic Media‘s weekly newsletter