Pro-Lifers In Obamaland

The future of the movement is a subject that some new pro-life organizations are starting to address, like RealAbortionSolutions.org, a Web site that launched during the 2008 election. They ran advertisements in the Washington Examiner and Washington Post's Express during this year's March for Life, calling on pro-lifers to "ask ourselves what it really means to be pro-life" and "come together on solutions based on results, not rhetoric." They're among a handful of groups at the intersection of religion and politics, including Faith in Public Life and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, that spent the election cycle pushing for a new understanding of how to pursue a pro-life agenda.

But some advocates see such discussion as unacceptable backsliding. So they're focused on returning to the grassroots tactics they've used for decades. "He's got the House, he's got the Senate, so I think we may go more guerilla warfare, or go back to working harder on your own turf, protesting at your abortion clinic in your town," says Jill Stanek, a prominent pro-life blogger. "We won't get anything past them. The only reason we'd be introducing legislation now is to gain public awareness." Activists are particularly anxious about the Freedom of Choice Act, a piece of legislation that would expand abortion rights by guaranteeing each women's "right to begin, prevent or continue a pregnancy." Obama once expressed support for the Act, but most legislators and policy experts say it's extremely unlikely to become law, since it has languished in Congress for two decades now.

But while the majority of pro-lifers may be preparing for an escalated battle, there is a small group that sees the change in Washington as an opportunity to reshape some of the movement's core principles. "In this context, no matter what your convictions are, we're not going to change the rule of the law," says Jim Wallis, who directs Sojourners, a progressive evangelical group. "Even if Roe is repealed, it just goes back to the states." Wallis, who is pro-life, and other progressive leaders are trying out a strategy that has so far failed to gain much traction on either side of the debate: "Let's look at results. How do you really reduce abortion? You support women's health care, you promote involved fatherhood. I think those programs are significant if you're saving unborn lives." Recent research has shown strong correlations between poverty and abortion, so these activists are betting on anti-poverty, social-welfare initiatives to bring down the abortion rate, like better support for mothers in high school or college, providing support for adoption as an alternative to abortion and increasing food stamp and Medicaid benefits for mothers.

Proponents of this path, hope that in this new political climate, pro-choice and pro-life leaders will be motivated to get behind abortion reduction tactics. The approach is popular with the public: 72 percent of Americans support the public policy goal of 'reducing the number of abortions in America by preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting women who wish to carry their pregnancies to term,' according to a 2008 Survey by Third Way, a non-profit think tank that promotes bipartisan cooperation. And it's had a successful year politically: the Democrats added an abortion-reduction clause to their party platform for the first time in 2008.

In a statement released last Thursday (on Roe's anniversary), President Obama offered an optimistic view of the level of cooperation possible between pro-lifers and pro-choicers: "While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services."

Unlike his Democratic predecessor, Obama did not use the anniversary of Roe to reverse the Mexico City Policy. Wallis, the Evangelical leader, was involved in discussions with Obama advisors about how the president would announce that executive order and says the timing—late on a Friday afternoon—was intentional. "Everyone knew it was going to be rescinded," says Wallis. "He was trying to do it quietly, without fanfare. By issuing a statement first, he sent a clear signal that he's not looking to start a fight with people who are pro-life."