December 2022
Changing the Conversation: New Strategies to Talk about Abortion
If we want to convince others to keep abortion legal, we need to change the conversation. Until we ground our talking points in our values, we won’t be able to gain ground with those whose minds aren’t yet made up.
These changes were the subject of a presentation this fall by staffers from the National Women’s Law Center, a Washington, D.C. non-profit organization advocating for gender justice for women and girls. NWLC’s Director of Media Relations Olympia Feil and Senior Legislative Analyst Jackii Wang delivered a Zoom presentation, “Let’s Talk About Abortion.” They offered strategies to speak about what they describe as a personal decision and a common medical procedure. Participants included NCJW volunteers, activists, and abortion providers in Massachusetts and around the country.
Feil and Wang explained the results of research completed in January 2021 on ways to talk about abortion positively and helpfully. The research pointed to “values-based messaging” to keep abortion safe and legal. Feil and Wang said that these strategies, tested on focus groups representative of the American electorate, enable us to advocate for and within the reproductive justice movement.
Feil and Wang listed some of the words that resonated with those on the fence about their beliefs about abortion: rights, trust, support, compassion, autonomy, agency, justice, equity, equality, and privacy. The strategy of combining values, vision, and religion worked to open and even change minds. They offered examples of ways to employ such words.
For example, if others talk about “protecting the lives of the unborn” or describe themselves as “anti-abortion,” pivot, and try one of the following:
“I believe everyone has a right to live the life they want to live.”
“Abortion is a deeply personal decision. I believe a woman has a right to privacy to discuss this with her doctor so that she can make a decision that’s right for her.”
“My faith calls me to want everyone to be safe and healthy.”
“Lack of access to abortion is hardest on the poor. In a just and religious society, this isn’t the way I believe we should treat one another.”
When the subset of the focus group unsure of their stance on abortion heard actors using sentences such as these, they were more likely to say they agreed and could support abortion. Phrases with the most impact turned down the heat of the conversation and helped forge a deeper connection between speaker and listener.
Feil and Wang offered examples of rhetoric that deepened divides: repeating the other side’s argument, using the phrase “war against women,” describing abortion as “devastating” or “traumatic,” couching lack of abortion as “forced pregnancy,” using the word “choice,” and agreeing to the need for a “compromise.” Additionally, they explained, it’s not helpful to say that “no one wants to have an abortion.” Many who are pregnant want to have an abortion, which is usually safe and straightforward.
Some of these phrases, they said, can be needlessly antagonistic. Others imply that abortion is something pregnant people either choose or don’t choose – rather than a basic human health care need. Still others of these phrases suggest that abortions are extreme and scary or fraught. Feil and Wang reminded participants that, over the course of their lives, one in four who are pregnant will have abortion. The procedures are safe. There is no lasting impact on the ability to carry a healthy pregnancy. And there is ample research to demonstrate that abortion improves economic and mental health outcomes.
Don’t shy away from using the word “abortion,” Feil and Wang said. Using the word normalizes the word and familiarizes the procedure. Don’t talk about “reproductive health care” or “choice,” because these are euphemisms for a legitimate medical procedure.
Feil and Wang advised participants not to categorize abortions as “good” or “bad.” To do so is to risk sanctioning some abortions and delegitimizing others. For example, it’s not helpful to approve of abortions only in the case of rape, incest, or a threat to the health of the pregnant person. All abortion, regardless of the cause or impact of a pregnancy, needs to be legal.
Feil and Wang encouraged participants to speak out when reporters describe abortion negatively or unhelpfully. They also suggested participants post values-based messages on social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.