National Institute for Reproductive Health
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The Messaging Project
   

The last two decades have seen dramatic changes in how abortion is discussed, debated and understood in the public sphere. Anti-choice forces have mounted a successful, sustained effort to gain support at the state and local levels for initiatives that block access to reproductive health services and stigmatize those women who seek them.  They have introduced language into the political debate that polarizes, frightens and misinforms. 

The Messaging Project develops pro-choice messages that resonate with the American public, and works with local partners in strategic regions across the country to fight the tide of anti-choice legislation and inspire pro-choice individuals to proactively defend a woman’s fundamental right to choose.  

 
 

For more information about the Messaging Project, visit our website or contact Mary Alice Carr by email or call 212.343.2031 ext. 3520.


Resources:


Learn more about our criminalization message from our presentation on RH Reality Check's Communications Connection.


Anna Quindlen's article in Newsweek asks the question, "How Much Time Should She Do?"


To see the Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa ad that ran in the 2006 Governor's race, click here.

“If Abortion is Outlawed, the Woman Having One Will Be a Criminal. How Much Time Should She Do?”

Without countervailing language, elected officials, the media, the pro-choice community and the public at large who support a woman’s right to control her reproductive destiny have been put on the defensive and forced to compromise on pro-choice issues. 

In state after state, we have witnessed the enactment of unconscionable measures–- from abortion bans intended to criminalize abortion and impose stiff penalties on women and physicians, to reduced Medicaid funding for reproductive health care and draconian laws requiring doctors to scold women who seek to terminate pregnancies.

The National Institute is working to change this dynamic by providing our supporters with the most vital tool they need to keep these basic freedoms safe from the current onslaught -- language that puts our opponents on the defensive and motivates our supports to take action.

Through a multi-year research, communications, media and grassroots organizing effort, the Messaging Project is identifying language that resonates with the public and actually mobilizes them to become pro-active supporters and participants for reproductive rights. We will work one-on-one with allies on the ground in states across the nation, assisting them in utilizing this language as they craft efforts to fight back against those who would further reduce abortion access in their state.