CHANGING THE CONVERSATIONTHE IMPACT OF PERSONHOOD, INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Personhood.com PO Box 5007, Denver, CO, USA 80217 (303) 456-2800 info@personhoodusa.com

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Reframing the Debate

Human dignity is one of the greatest concerns facing us today. The measurement of every civilization is its willingness to protect its most vulnerable and defenseless citizens. The greatest documents ever drafted in the protection of human rights ultimately include a description of human dignity and personhood.

You probably agree with me that the innate human worth, dignity, and freedoms of people around the world are worth defending. One of the greatest concerns is protecting the innocent unheard voices of defenseless children in subjugation. Imagine being owned by another person, as part of a person’s property, asserted domain, or as an appendage to a body. Imagine being controlled or by another force or entity who’s assertion of rights are seen as superior to your own.

Who do you think the most innocent voices are? Who are the unheard today? Personhood is a movement of people who believe that even the most defenseless, helpless, hapless, hopeless and innocent voices deserve protection.

More people are in slavery today than at any time in history and slavery takes many different forms. Slavery asserts that a person, or class of persons are the possession of another, that they have come under the influence, domain, or power of another simply by proximity, birth, condition, race, location or status in a social or geopolitical hierarchy. You could be impoverished, imprisoned, placed on a plantation or penal colony, you could even be captive inside someones body, but does that give someone the right to deny your personhood, your autonomy, and demand your life or seize control of your destiny?

We need to create a loud, fervent voice that is irate about abortion. We need an effective voice for the voiceless. Personhood’s vision is to engage the tireless minority that will give their votes and their voices to protect the unborn, in order to create a popular social change movement that will end abortion.

Each battle is part of a bigger picture, that is, part of the social movement. Both victories and losses are opportunities that can be seized to create social change. Each trigger event we create is an opportunity to build a national movement that can win long-term, if we act intentionally and following a blueprint for successful reform.

Our orthodoxy is the intrinsic worth and dignity of every human individual. In a word, Personhood. Our orthopraxy (our method) is to identify, educate, and activate our base as we follow the movement action plan.

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Our RoadMAP: The Movement Action Plan

Cultural changes must be peaceful, democratic, and popular. Social change activities are often focused squarely at the power-holders and their policies. The real purpose is not to directly force the power-holders to immediately change their minds, but to spotlight the problem and change the conversation in order to alert, educate, win over, inspire, and involve the general public.

The correct primary target of social movements, therefore, is not power-holders, but the citizenry. The personhood movement seeks to create cultural change by encouraging popular action that raises social tension. When the people lead, the leaders will follow.

There are four different kinds of activists in a social movement: citizens, reformers, rebels, and change agents. They can be either effective, or ineffective:

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CITIZEN

REBEL

REFORMER

CHANGE AGENT

Ineffective •Naive citizen: Does not realize that power-holders and institutions serve elite interests. •Super-patriot: Blind obedience to power-holders and country

Effective •Promotes positive, widely-held values, e.g. democracy, freedom, justice, non-violence •Grounded in center of society •Protects against charges of extremism

Effective •Uses official channels to make change •Uses variety of means: lobbying, legal action, elections •Monitors success to assure enforcement, expand success and guard against backlash.

Ineffective •Promotes minor reforms •Co-opted: Identifies more with official power-holders than grassroots •Limited by hierarchical structure •Does not advocate paradigm shifts

Ineffective •Self-identifies as being on the fringe •‘Any means necessary,’ including violence and property destruction •Acts from strong negative emotions such as anger, desperation, and powerlessness •Anti-organization, opposed to any rules or structure •Personal needs outweigh movement needs

Ineffective •Utopian: promotes visions of perfectionism disconnected from current movement needs •Dogmatic: advocates single approach while ignoring others •Ignores personal needs of activists •Disengages from movement to live isolated alternative lifestyle.

Effective •Protests: Says “no!” to violation of positive values •Uses NVDA and civil disobedience •Puts problems in public spotlight •Strategic •Exciting, courageous, risky

Effective •Uses people power: educates, convinces, and involves majority of citizens •Mass-based grassroots organizing •Employs strategy and tactics for waging long-term movements •Promotes alternatives and paradigm shifts.

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These four kinds of activists are engaged in every social change movement, playing different roles at each stage of the movement’s development. To envision the path of a successful movement, Personhood uses the women’s suffrage and civil rights movements as models. We can chart the progress of these successful social change movements in the eight stage MAP—Movement Action Plan. 1

This roadmap provides a consistent basis for organizing and evaluating the personhood movement’s efforts. Each stage of this graph is explained over the next few pages. It’s a guide for going from here, where legalized abortion is promoted throughout the world, to there, a society that respects the intrinsic dignity of the individual. Having a long term strategy allows the movement to paint a realistic and realizable vision for the activists as well as helping to avoid unnecessary discouragement.

The “Movement Action Plan” was developed by Bill Moyer during the 1960’s civil rights movement in the United States. 1

It is a practical strategy and action planning model describing the stages that successful movements traverse over many years.

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Activists often interpret apparent setbacks as evidence that their movement is failing, even when their campaigns are moving through normal stages toward success. Belief in movement failure creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Social change movements can counteract this tendency by communicating a realistic model of movement success.

This model allows the movement to identify its location in the developmental process of social change, and to set short-term goals, strategies, tactics, and programs that advance the movement to its next stage.

We can examine each of these eight stages in more detail by identifying the goals of the movement, power-holders, and opposition organizations at each stage.

BUSINESS-AS-USUAL During the status quo stage, the problem exists but it is not on the social or political agenda. The problem may be known, but it is not communicated effectively.

• Movement Goals: Build organization, vision, and strategy. Document the problem and identify the role that the power-holders play in maintaining the status quo.

• Power-holder Goals: Keep issue off socio-political agenda. • Professional Opposition Organization Goals: Ignore the movement and keep it

alienated. • Public Opinion: Mostly uninterested, only 10-15% support change.

NORMAL CHANNELS FAIL During this stage, a new wave of grassroots activism forms.

• Movement Goals: The movement will write and promote laws to establish the legal and moral basis for the movement. It will build organizations, leadership, and expertise.

• Power-holder Goals: Maintain the routine bureaucratic functioning to stifle opposition and keep the issue off the social and political agenda.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: Discredit the movement as inexperienced or naive, and maintain the status quo.

• Public Opinion: 15-20% of the public support change.

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CONDITIONS RIPEN The tension builds as the grassroots become discontented with the conditions, institutions, power-holders, and professional opposition organizations. Upsetting events occur which personify the problem, along with worsening conditions.

• Movement Goals: Educate and win over the pro-life community, prepare the grass roots for a new movement. Continue to take action by introducing and fighting for more and more personhood laws.

• Power-holder Goals: Control the official decision-making channels to favor status quo.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: Attack the movement throughout the establishment as harmful to the pro-life goals.

• Public Opinion: 20-30% of the public support change.

TAKE OFF! A trigger event, the passage of a personhood law, puts the spotlight on the existing problem, sparking public attention and upset. This foments massive action in the shape of protests and renewed legal and political efforts. The issue is now on society’s agenda of hotly contested issues in a crisis atmosphere. The movement gains energy and hops for a fast change. There is a paradigm shift that begins to consolidate public opinion.

• Movement Goals: Put the end to abortion truly on the nation’s radar. Begin to win over larger percentages of public opinion

• Power-holder Goals: shocked by the new opposition and publicity, they fail to keep the issue off of the social agenda. They reassert the official line and attempt to discredit the movement as bigoted religious zealots.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: oppose the movement as “rebels”, and as abandoning a proven long term strategy.

• Public Opinion: 40-50% of the public support change.

ACTIVIST “FAILURE” During this stage, the goal of being able to end abortion in at least one state is thwarted by the judiciary. The unrealistic hopes of quick success are unmet. Activists burn out and drop out. A part of the movement goes negative and possibly violent.

• Movement Goals: Recognize the success of the movement and remain positive. Move on to the next stage with confidence and energy.

• Power-holder Goals: to claim that the movement has failed, discredit the movement.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: brand the movement as a mistake and attempt to isolate and kill off support from grass roots. Repackage the old status quo as a new alternative.

• Public Opinion: 45-55% of the public support change.

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WIN MAJORITY OF PUBLIC The movement transforms from a protest in crisis to a long-term struggle with power-holders to win a public majority state by state. The grass roots base that has been built up is used to continue to pass laws that will confront the power-holders.

• Movement Goals: Keep ending abortion on national agenda. Win over and involve a majority of the public. Activists are committed for the long haul.

• Power-holder Goals: Try to discredit the movement to create public fear of personhood. Some power-holders break off and join the movement.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: Promote bogus reforms to divide and re-conquer the movement.

• Public Opinion: 55-65% support change, but counter movements are putting the new majority public opinion in danger.

SUCCESS There is a quick escalation of tension along with a major showdown, in which the movement achieves a major goal such as the courts returning abortion to the states. Other major goals are achieved, solidifying the paradigm shift. The movement at last reaches success, and is able to empower activists and organizations to realistically fight for bigger goals, such as a federal constitutional amendment.

• Movement Goals: Counter the power-holder’s bogus alternatives and stay forward looking. Defeat holdout power-holders through public vote. Nurture a broad based coalition to demand change.

• Power-holder Goals: Continue to attempt to undermine the movement by suggesting reforms instead of change.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: Begin to take sides between the movement or the remaining holdout power-holders. Justify past position and blend in with the paradigm shift.

• Public Opinion: The majority’s demand for change is bigger than it’s fear of changing the status quo. The majority no longer believe the power-holders justifications of old policies. 75-85% support change.

MOVING ON The paradigm shift is being adopted by society at large and the movement takes on a “reform” role, extending the protection to all human beings to new and emerging areas pushed mostly by technological advances.

• Movement Goals: Retain, extend success. Continue struggle by promoting other issues, like biomedical regulation, consolidating a paradigm shift.

• Power-holder Goals: Adapt to the new policies and conditions, claiming movement successes as their own. Try to undermine movement success by not enforcing the law or through undemocratic regulations.

• Professional Opposition Organization Goals: Professional opposition organizations have now disappeared. Some have been absorbed into the movement, others have retired, and others have joined the power-holders.

• Public Opinion: There is a new consensus and a new status quo that respects the dignity of the human being as a person in an inviolable manner. These new public beliefs are carried over to emerging technologies which push the debate to new areas. Support stabilizes at 75%.

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Case Study: The “Gay Marriage” Movement

How did the gay marriage movement transform culture to achieve unprecedented success over the past 15 years? They followed the MAP with unrelenting persistence. Their endgame was always “marriage equality,” so they were unsatisfied with mere civil unions. They weren’t discouraged by losses at the ballot box because they possessed long-term vision, recognizing those moments as opportunities to grow the movement.

The first victories for gay marriage at the ballot box were in November 2012. Each victory was by a very slender margin. In our movement, the final goal is full recognition of personhood for all unborn children. We will not be satisfied with half-way measures to regulate abortion. Neither can we be discouraged if particular personhood initiatives flounder; it’s a crisis point that is part of the natural progression of the culture-changing roadmap.

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BETWEEN 1998 & 2012, THE GAY MARRIAGE MOVEMENT LOST WE WON’T STOP UNTIL THERE IS

OF THE PERSONHOOD OF ALL UNBORN CHILDREN32 TIMES

BE UNRELENTING WE ARE UNRELENTING

INSIST ON ASKING FOR IT ALL WE INSIST ON ASKING FOR IT ALL

BUT THEY NEVER SETTLED FOR

CIVIL UNIONS OR DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS

14 YEARS AFTER THEIR FIRST REFERENDUMGAY MARRIAGE FINALLY WON AT THE BALLOT BOX IN 4 STATES WE WON’T BE SATISFIED WITH

WHEN THEY TOOK THEIR CASES

EVERY SINGLE JUSTICE HAD BEENAPPOINTED BY A PRESIDENT WHO

OPPOSED GAY MARRIAGE

TO THE HIGH COURT,

AND YET, THEY WON BOTH CASES!

DON’T WAIT FOR “FAVORABLE” WE WON’T WAIT FOR “FAVORABLE”

FULL RECOGNITION

HALF-WAY MEASURESREGULATING ABORTION.

WE UNDERSTAND THAT CHANGING CULUTRE REQUIRESCRUCIAL TIPPING POINTSIN PUBLIC OPINION

30%4% OF THE POPULATIONIDENTIFIES AS HOMOSEXUAL

IN 7 YEARS MOBILIZED PUBLICSUPPORT FROM 54%28%

OF THE POPULATION IS WILLINGTO SUPPORT PERSONHOOD AT THE BALLOT BOX

IMAGINE WHAT WE COULD DO!

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The Personhood MAP

The Personhood strategy consciously follows the course of the Movement Action Plan. Already, we’ve advanced through early stages of growth by initiating trigger events. In doing so, we’ve changed the conversation and built a burgeoning movement.

Now, we face new trigger opportunities to build the movement further and grow support to end abortion entirely. Passing the first ever personhood amendment would be an unprecedented trigger event, creating a new swell of public support and setting up a viable challenge to legalized abortion!

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Changing the Conversation

By creating a new framework for dialogue, Personhood changed and increased the discussion about abortion in America, focusing it on the rights and dignity of the unborn child at all stages of development.

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Global density map for articles on Personhood since 2012.

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Opponents are now using our rhetoric: anything that restricts abortion in any way is now talking about “personhood." That's a good thing because now they’re using a term that focuses on human dignity. We’re no longer talking about regulating the width of the doors at abortion clinics, we’re focusing on the dignity of the human person. No longer talking about “women’s rights” but about “fetal personhood.” The word itself gets entered into the conversation, we win anytime that happens.

In 2012, five serious contenders for the Presidency endorsed personhood and participated in the first-ever Presidential Pro-Life Forum, where they used our rhetoric and stood up for human dignity on a national platform. One candidate even renounced his previous support for rape and incest exceptions and adopted a 100% pro-life position.

This shift was made crystal clear during the 2014 midterm elections. The primary campaign issue of nearly every Senate race fixated on the subject of personhood vs. the “war on women.” Nearly all the U.S. Senate candidates who were viciously targeted for their support for personhood (whether real or perceived) won at the ballot box.

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20142008 2010

DESPITE AN OVERWHELMING FUNDING DEFICIT, SUPPORT FOR PERSONHOOD IN COLORADO HAS

INCREASED BY 10% SINCE 2008.

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In every major Senate race during the 2014 midterm elections, Personhood was a key dividing issue between the candidates. Rather than discussing various abortion regulations or discussing other tertiary issues, candidates were forced to either defend or deny the intrinsic dignity of every human person, whether born or unborn.

Notably, the victor of Iowa’s Senate campaign, Joni Ernst, stood by her sponsorship of a local personhood amendment that would recognize and protect “the inalienable right to life of every person at any stage of development.” Ernst’s victory sends a clear message to potential Republican presidential candidates who want to win the Iowa caucuses. While some other candidates narrowly eked by after turning their backs on their pro-life constituencies, Ernst’s unapologetic strategy reaped major dividends.

A recent MSNBC spotlight noted that, “In only six years, the Personhood movement has utterly changed the contours of the debate over reproductive rights. In a way, even as they lose again and again, they’ve already won.” That is, without winning a single legally-binding ballot initiative, we have changed how people think about abortion and increased polling support for banning abortion in all cases.

Before Personhood USA launched its first personhood referendum in Colorado, polling indicated that only 15% of Americans would support a total ban on abortion. Colorado is 2

a moderate state that is broadly representative of the American political center.

Yet the first personhood campaign, without any funding or support from other conservative and Christian organizations, managed to obtain 27% support from the electorate. After repeated attempts and being outspent 1,300-to-1 in subsequent campaigns, support for the personhood amendment in Colorado has risen to 36%. Planned Parenthood spent more than $20 million fighting personhood in 2014, but electoral support continued to increase.

“The Personhood USA folks know that 12 losses will be erased by a single win,” National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) President Ilyse Hogue told the Denver Post. “Everybody forgets about the losses. That’s why they keep coming back, and why they keep coming back in a state like Colorado. … [Personhood supporters] also are doubling down on resources, and they learn from each battle.”

Gallup. “Abortion.” http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx2

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Creating a Voice for the Voiceless

Creating an effective voice for the voiceless begins with developing relationships through community organization. There are three steps to organizing communities:

IDENTIFY

• Build dynamic, comprehensive profiles of pro-life individuals.

• Develop a psychographic ladder to understand their motivations, aspirations, and convictions.

• Identify the influencers who move particular individuals. • Update profiles with current phone and email contacts,

address, voter history, precinct and district info. ENGAGE

• Educate the grassroots to strengthen pro-life convictions. • Target personalized messages to supporters based on

their comprehensive profile. • Track actions and engagement. • Remember how people interact digitally to move them up

the ladder of engagement. • Utilize Facebook/social media synchronization to educate

and drive action.

ACTIVATE

• Use digital connection points to put relationships into action.

• Leverage relationships so that individuals respond with their votes and their voices.

• Utilize micro-crowdfunding to create self-sustaining model of community organization.

www.Personhood.comFULLY INTEGRATED SOCIAL PROFILES

CONSTANT UPDATES PHONE, EMAIL, ADDRESS

VOTER HISTORYBUILD RELATIONSHIPS

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Community Organization in Action

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PRESIDENTIAL PRO-LIFE FORUM in 2012 where 5 major GOP candidates endorsed personhood

OPPONENTS USE OUR RHETORIC so now anything that restricts abortion in any way is labeled “personhood"

ALL KEY MIDTERM ELECTIONS saw personhood as a defining campaign issue & supporters won

PERIPHERAL ISSUES

PERSONHOOD RESOLUTIONS pass with overwhelming support in South Carolina and Georgia

FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE

Watch video of Presidential Pro-Life Forum

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Personhood Offices PO Box 5007 Denver, CO 80217-5007

T +1 (303) 456-2800