Pro-Peace: An Organization of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice
Collaborators
CEO and President: Sally Anderson
Mission Statement
Pro-Peace is an NGO based in the United States that aims at finding compromises
between pro-life and pro-choice organizations, politicians and individuals through
campaigns, initiatives and trainings in hopes to create a more cordial and peaceful
society in regards to the intractable abortion conflict.
I. Introduction
The abortion debate is a deeply rooted and controversial issue that has
existed around the globe for decades. Because of entrenched cultural and religious
beliefs, the pro-life versus pro-choice disagreement has evolved into an innate
intractable conflict, for which no simple solution has been able to be met. In my
conflict map I researched and examined how this intractable conflict came to be, and
how the various key actors and entrenched belief systems perpetuated the conflict
at large. Now with a better understanding of the inner workings of United States
abortion debate, I was able to investigate ways of negotiation and conflict solutions.
Despite the two sides extreme differences barriers of hatred can be broken down
and a mutual understanding of each other can be reached. This concept paper
evaluates three possible projects as a part of an organization I have created;
reframing the conflict, grasping control of both side’s emotions towards the issue
and finally changing the relationship between the adversaries through
acknowledgment, mourning and forgiveness.
II. The Reframe Campaign
“Reframing the Abortion Conflict One Partisan at a Time”
This campaign will be a grassroots effort to reduce the partisan attitudes of
politicians and the electorate at large. The campaign will aim to target individuals at
the grassroots level to contact their representatives and ask them to stop framing
abortion as part of their political platform. The debate around abortion has become
extremely political, and as a result Democrats and Republicans alike have adopted
the topic as a main subject on their political platforms. Abortion has become a major
issue of partisan framing on the political agenda for many politicians and it not only
has a strong effect on policy but in turn strongly effects individuals preferences
fueling the conflict debate at large. Someone who is partisan is a committed member
of a political party or a person who strongly supports his or her party’s policies and
is reluctant to compromise with their political opponents. Most pro-life and prochoice individuals have specific partisan preferences (democrat or republican)
based on their views of abortion. If someone is democrat they are more likely to be
pro-choice and vice versa with republicans. Coincidentally abortion views are
almost as stable as party ID views. Most Americans have an opinion on abortion. In
the 2000 National Elections studies, 98% of respondents voiced an opinion on
abortion. Therefore, elites gain support from the electorate by stating their partisan
position on abortion. By reframing this conversation, and taking abortion out of the
political debate all together, there would be an immediate cognitive change in many
people’s brains. If abortion was not so politicized on a national scale, we would see
it become less of a controversial debate. For example; the ‘War on Women’ phrase
coined by the Democrats because of the Republican’s constant interrogation of
women’s bodies would be no more. Through community outreach and grassroots
motivation the “Reframe Campaign” will reframe the abortion debate to focus more
on people rather than politics, there would be less media attention on abortion in
politics and therefore fewer emotions projected on to constituents to fuel the
conflict. By changing the structure of the debate rather than the people involved, it
will start to break down the debate on a macro level. So join the movement, one
partisan at a time!
III. Emotion Control Moderators
Targeters and Trainers
Abortion is a very entrenched emotional topic for all members involved, both
the directly and indirectly effected. The escalation of an already emotional issue
creates an increasingly highly stigmatized political conflict. Emotion Control
Moderators will be sent to organizations who are instilling hatred and perpetuating
conflict and train and inspire individuals to act in a more rational manner. This
branch of the Pro-Peace organization will include two main branches, one group of
people who would be in charge of research and targeting organizations and elite
individuals who seem to be fueling hatred and emotion in the topic of abortion.
These groups or individuals will most likely be organizations or elite politicians,
who have a strong influence over a large amount of people. By targeting them first it
enables the second branch of people, I have deemed as “Emotion Control
Moderators” to physically go approach these people and/or organizations and not
only train but motivate and inspire them to control their emotions about the issue
and rationalize about the issue. This will help mitigate emotions, in hopes to lessen
the misguided and misinterpreted information that the heated individual was going
to share with his or her followers. In much case if there are emotions involved, facts
become skewed and misinformation becomes rampant.
Women who have abortions or support women to make the decision to have
or not to have an abortion are looked down upon by the pro-life community, which
creates a strong emotional tug of war. Religion is also a very emotional entity, which
justifies pro lifers belief about the issue as a whole. By intervening and training the
heads of certain pro-life organizations, the emotions of these groups will lessen and
in turn individuals may even become more understanding and respectful of their
adversaries. In contrast pro-choice advocates believe it is the women’s choice what
she does with her body. When pro-lifers tell a woman what they should do with
their bodies it creates a very tense and highly emotional atmosphere. If emotion
control moderators first target and then intervene before pro-lifers begin telling
pro-choicers their emotional opinions, the hatred between the groups may begin to
lessen. Through disinformation, emotions become tenser. Understanding
contradictions and misunderstandings through the training of emotion control
moderators will in fact provide clear bipartisan information, and lessen the
emotional cloudy facts that we mostly see in the media and in society today.
IV. The AMF Initiative
Acknowledgement, Mourning and Forgiveness
The abortion debate has been flagged as a complex issue based on religion,
and questions the fundamental query of when life truly begins. This is why we see a
cultivation of culture and religion mixed in with strong moral beliefs around the
topic. As a result, a very deeply rooted intractable conflict is born. Through the AMF
initiative (Acknowledgement, Mourning and Forgiveness) the Pro-Peace
organization hopes to instill a sustainable framework to mitigate the tense emotions
and violence that occur because of this conflict. Of course, the reframe campaign’s
grassroots efforts combined with the emotional control moderators help to target
and intervene in conflicts around abortion will aid significantly in the AMF initiative.
This initiative’s goal is to enter the conflict once it has already began to be broken
down by the previous other prongs of the Pro-Peace Organization. Our hopes are it
will solely be a transitional actor in the conflict resolution process, and help to
create a sustainable atmosphere between pro-life and pro-choice adversaries.
The initiative aims at providing three critical lessons to individuals and
organizations that are affected by this conflict debate. First the lesson of
acknowledgement, in which both groups need to acknowledge the other side’s views
and beliefs. Even if they do not agree with them, nor will ever come to an agreement,
acceptance and acknowledgement of the other is crucial in moving forward in a
peaceful manner. The other part of acknowledgement can be exemplified by
acknowledgment that has already taken place in the US, are groups who have a
focus on bipartisanship organizations such as Republicans for Choice.
Acknowledging groups such as these, and putting more emphasis and recognition
on them will deny incentives for political leaders to use to fuel the abortion conflict.
The second lesson will be concrete mourning of the violence and hatred that has
occurred on both conflict sides. This may be physical loss of death, or hatred in
words, both are equally as hurtful and fuel conflict. By mourning what has been
done and said, both groups will be able to reconcile and move on. Finally, the most
critical part of the AMF Initiative is forgiveness. Forgiving each other and moving on
in a peaceful way is absolutely crucial for a future with less hatred, violence,
misunderstandings and fueled conflict. Forgiveness is the only way for two groups
to come to an equal understanding of one another, and in turn come out of the
conflict with a hopeful peaceful future.
V. Conclusion
All three branches of my organization will aid and motivate each other to
mitigate the abortion conflict in the United States. I am asking for funding from
existing peace and conflict resolution organizations that deal with domestic conflicts
in the US. By giving “Pro-Peace: An Organization of Pro-Choice and Pro-Life
Collaborators,” grant money, through it’s three intervention projects it will not only
lessen violence in the US around this conflict but create a sustained peaceful
environment in both pro-choice and pro-life advocates lives, communities and in
turn society as a whole.