Why was this resource created?

Use this webpage to aid you as you consider how to use your voice and your vote to advance preborn justice and build pro-life political power. We are breaking the binary that tells us we must vote in our current two-party political system in order to be pro-life!

Who is this page for?

This is a resource for people who hold left-of-center views and anti-abortion beliefs. This is for people who are dissatisfied by our two-party system. This is for people who want options that are not limited to just electoral politics.

How to use this resource:

Read, learn, and explore. Find what resonates with you, share with your friends, take what you can and leave what you want. There is not “right” way to vote!

Helpful Definitions:

  • Political engagement is the participation of citizens in selecting and sanctioning the leaders who wield power in government, including by entering themselves as contenders for leadership. Political engagement includes citizen actions as voters, as actual and potential challengers for leadership positions in government, and in organized groups that pressure elected politicians and appointed public officials through civil society action and public protests.

  • Collective and community-based practices and efforts to meet people's needs, independent of state systems and other hierarchical, oppressive arrangements. Mutual aid is grounded in reciprocity and solidarity rather than charity, and builds shared understandings of the systemic failures that make community care for survival necessary. Mutual aid is a form of political participation that allows us to build relationships and formations that make the conditions we face more survivable and strengthen our ability to take collective action.

  • Tactics often used in social movements such as protests, civil disobedience, sit-ins, blockades, strikes, walkouts, de-arrests, banner drops, and sabotage that are meant to disrupt the system and achieve a political goal outside of the formal channels of civic engagement. Direct action tactics are used for a wide range of purposes, such as to prevent evictions, defend the environment, highlight systemic contradictions, bring awareness to a problem, stop harmful proposals, and express community outrage.

  • Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Voting

  • Does my vote reflect my values?

  • Are you giving power to a person who advances preborn justice?

  • Does this person seem at risk to sway their stance on abortion if they are pressured?

  • Does this person have any specific role in the anti-abortion or pro-abortion movements?

  • Will I feel confident about the safety of preborn people if this person is elected?

  • Is there an option for voting that aligns with all of my values? Am I comfortable voting where it aligns with only some of my values?

  • Who funds this person?

  • Is voting necessary for me to achieve my goals? Is it better for me to abstain?

Local Engagement

School Boards

  • Engage and organize efforts to get Planned Parenthood out of local schools

  • Work to normalize the presence of Pregnancy Care Centers in schools

  • Encourage local Pregnancy Care Centers to try and establish relationships with local schools and school boards

  • Work to get a member or leader of a local Pregnancy Care Center to run and be elected to a local school board

  • For more information on how to get Planned Parenthood out of schools, click here.

Local Government

  • Lobby local neighborhood associations and neighborhood commissions to get abortion businesses removed from their areas

  • Attend Advisory Neighborhood Commission meetings and educate about dangerous local abortion businesses

  • Submit FOIA requests to attain malpractice records from local abortion businesses

  • Meet with local Health Department offices to express the importance of removing abortion from your communities in order to keep your community safe

  • Research local Fire Marshall and OSHA regulations for the possibility of shutting a business down due to regulation violations


Local Library Boards

  • Your local library board controls what information, materials, and events are allowed in this very important community space. The difference between having a pro-abortion board member and a pro-life board member could be very drastic.

Local Businesses

  • Campaign adjoining businesses to the abortion facility to petition their landlord to cut the contracts with the abortionist

  • Share stories of abuse, environmental violations, with neighboring businesses to persuade

Mutual Aid Efforts

Protest and Outreach

  • Research local pro-abortion political events to protest

  • Events might include rallies, fundraisers, and speaking events

  • Look for local abortion businesses and funders who might sponsor events for pro-abortion politicians

  • Get on email and text lists for these groups and candidates to stay up to date on their activities

  • Do street outreach  in your community with signs and information about your local abortion industry and how people can use their vote to build pro-life political power

For more information on how to leverage local power to remove abortion from your communities, click here.

State Engagement

Lobbying Efforts

  • Have a good working relationship with pro-life state legislators, and maintain a relationship with your local rep, even if they’re pro choice.

  • Stay alert and on top of any abortion-related bills and hearings.

  • Make a plan to be part of any major effort to pass pro-life legislation, including lobby days, phone calls, visits and testifying at hearings.

Federal Engagement

Lobbying Efforts

  • Just as with state efforts, begin by having a good working relationship with your congressperson/senator’s staff. Keep open lines of communication even if you disagree with them on abortion.

  • Remember to emphasize common, shared progressive values in your conversations. This will help them see that you’re authentically progressive.

  • Don’t ever be afraid to call them out publicly. Make sure they know that you are not their “friend” but rather their constituent.

  • Have a clear message, short and to the point. Preferably something you can say in 20-30 seconds. Often, interns will choose whether or not to pass info along, and it’s your job to make it attention-grabbing and powerful.

  • Looking for resources on how to lobby people in power? Check out this resource.

Online Engagement

Media

  • Create relationships with local news outlets and radio stations in order to spread your message to your local community

  • Write letters to the editor for your local newspapers

  • Submit op-eds to local newspapers and magazines