{"id":4233,"date":"2022-09-20T11:27:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T15:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=4233"},"modified":"2024-03-14T19:14:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T23:14:07","slug":"pro-life-referendums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/pro-life-referendums\/","title":{"rendered":"What History Shows: The Consistent Life Ethic Works for the Pro-life Side in Referendums"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is also a page<\/a> on our Peace & Life Referendums<\/a> site.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

by Rachel MacNair<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Before the Roe v. Wade <\/em>decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, there were three referendums to legalize abortion in individual U.S. states:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Washington<\/a><\/p>\n

1970- 56% voted yes<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Michigan<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1972 – 61% voted no<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"North<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1972 – 78% voted no<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So legalization won in a state where the consistent-life perspective wasn\u2019t prominent \u2013 yet lost, and lost by a good margin, in those two campaigns where the opposition did use consistent-life arguments. See the book Defenders of the Unborn<\/a>:<\/em>\u00a0The Pro-life Movement before Roe v. Wade<\/em>, by Daniel K Williams, pp. 190-194<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michigan<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Proposal B would have legalized abortion for any reason up to 20 weeks, but was \u00a0soundly defeated. It was put on the ballot with the needed 300,000 signatures. A September poll in Michigan had abortion legalization winning by 57-37%. That suggests the campaigns against the measures may have been quite effective.<\/p>\n

The Michigan group \u201cVoices for the Unborn\u201d produced a campaign brochure saying:<\/p>\n

\"Michigan<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Defenders of the Unborn<\/a><\/em>,<\/em> Daniel K Williams comments:<\/p>\n

Voices of the Unborn\u2019s willingness to link the pro-life cause with opposition to capital punishment may have stemmed in part from . . . its director, state representative Rosetta Ferguson<\/a>, an African American Democrat from Detroit . . . She was chair of the House Civil Rights Committee [of the Michigan House of Representatives] and had authored a bill to require Michigan\u2019s social studies textbooks to include coverage of black history, which she considered one of her proudest legislative accomplishments. Having grown up in the Deep South during the Depression, Ferguson was acutely aware of poverty and racial discrimination, and she feared the consequences of legalized abortion for women who were black and poor (page 192).<\/p>\n

\"Michigan<\/a>

Rosetta Ferguson<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once Proposal B was so resoundingly defeated, the Detroit Free Press<\/em> said opponents had pulled off \u201cone of the most startling and successful campaigns in Michigan political history\u201d (November 9, 1972).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

North Dakota<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Williams says in the case of North Dakota:<\/p>\n

[Al Fortman] enjoyed an excellent relationship with several of the state\u2019s Catholic bishops and forged ties with some of the state\u2019s Protestant ministers by linking the pro-life issue to other social justice causes, such as opposition to the Vietnam War, that interested mainline Protestant clergy (page 193).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Therefore . . . <\/strong><\/h3>\n

While there were obviously many factors leading to success in these campaigns, the consistent-life approach seems to have real-world effectiveness in election results; the two out of the three campaigns that took this approach were the ones that pro-lifers won, and won soundly. That is, connecting abortion to other forms of violence that people oppose seems to be at least one good avenue of persuasion.<\/p>\n

\"Abortion<\/a><\/p>\n

==================================<\/p>\n

For more in our blog on a positive approach to voting, see:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How Consistent-life Advocacy Would Benefit from Ranked-Choice Voting<\/a><\/p>\n

For current referendums, see our website:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Peace & Life Referendums<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Get our SHORT Biweekly e-Newsletter<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This post is also a page on our Peace & Life Referendums site.\u00a0 by Rachel MacNair \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Before the Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, there were three referendums to legalize abortion in individual U.S. states:   1970- 56% voted yes     1972 – 61% voted no     1972… <\/p>\n