1. Strategic messenger diversity is a necessity.

Audiences connect most deeply with people they recognize as part of their own community. To reach a truly broad public, we cannot rely solely on known movement leaders. We need “everyday” storytellers from diverse backgrounds and demographics. When a specific audience sees someone they relate to sharing a pro-life perspective, they are far more likely to listen and reconsider their own assumptions.

2. We must center the human reality over the abstract issue.

The most effective advocacy focuses on the people involved rather than the abstract political “issue.” We should take a cue from our opponents and make the listener care about the individuals, specifically the unborn child and the woman. While data and statistics are the foundation of our work, they rarely move people to action. Emotional engagement and authenticity are what bridge the gap between facts and a change of heart.

3. We have to navigate media bias with professional precision.

It is an unfortunate reality that pro-life stories are often held to a higher standard of evidence and skepticism by journalists than those of abortion advocates. To counter this, our storytellers must be prepared to educate reporters, maintain brevity, and stay focused on the facts of their experience. We must also prioritize the well-being of the storyteller, ensuring they have the support needed to handle the potential backlash or misinterpretation that can come with going public.

1. How do we identify storytellers? How do storytellers get “plugged in” and working with the media?

This summary of the video incorporates the remarks of speakers Emily Massey-Logan, Melissa Ohden, Dena Espenscheid, and Monica Snyder, , with a few changes to the second section in order to share it as a “best practices” list.

One of the challenges for the pro-life movement is that we don’t have a specific organization or website which people can visit and to which they can submit their abortion stories with the confidence that those stories will be shared. We need to provide opportunities for people to comfortably share their own stories.

In addition to building platforms for open story sharing, pro-lifers need to vet high-profile stories in a respectful way, understand which stories are available to share, and know how to reach our storytellers. Groups to reach include:

• Diverse storytellers: While stories have been found to help audiences empathize and relate to others, audiences may have a more difficult time identifying with storytellers who belong to demographic groups other than their own. The best person to speak to any given target audience is someone from that audience. Including personal experiences from various perspectives broadens the reach of pro-life storytelling.

• Everyday storytellers: Pro-life stories in the media should feature everyday stories and voices, not just known leaders. We should take a leaf out of the pro-choice storytelling playbook, which frequently uses the stories of unknowns like Kate Cox.

• One-time storytellers: Storytelling isn’t always about grabbing a microphone. Storytelling is a season for some people, who might share their story only once.

Regardless of which group you fall into, telling your story can be a road to empowerment, healing, and connection with others. Letting people know that they’re not the only ones with a certain experience is very important.

Additionally, pro-life storytelling helps counter pro-choice storytelling. Pro-choice narratives follow storytelling arcs that portray characters in the forms of heroes, victims, and villains. This framing is often dishonest, but effective. Pro-lifers can build on mainstream coverage of a story and tell the rest of the story.

It is important to remember that stories are about people. Pro-choice stories don’t focus on abortion. Most people don’t like abortion and would not be moved by a story concentrating on this issue. Instead, pro-choice stories make listeners care about the women involved. Pro-lifers should learn from this: we need to focus less on the issue and more on the people, especially the unborn. With moderate pro-choice audiences, it can also be helpful to focus on the woman. Talk about how abortion can harm women, how women sometimes feel pressured into abortion, and how women who were denied an abortion often are later glad they didn’t have one.

Remember: Cold hard facts and statistics don’t move people to action. Emotion does.

2. Best Practices for Sharing Your Story

If you decide to go public with your story, it is important to rehearse first. Chances are, you already possess powerful storytelling skills, but great storytelling takes practice. Your story might also evolve over time and take a different shape.

• Structure for Impact A well-crafted story has relatable characters, a structured plot with a beginning, middle, and end, conflict and resolution, emotional engagement, and authenticity. It is about more than just sharing facts; it is about providing a narrative that people can connect with and understand.

• Master the Art of Brevity It is important to keep your story brief. A good storyteller can tell a story in as little as 15 seconds, and you should be able to tell your story in 3 to 5 minutes. Practice condensing your narrative so that the core message remains clear and does not get lost in unnecessary detail.

• Manage the Media Relationship If you decide to tell your story to the media, it might be necessary to educate the reporter. Journalists, unless they have covered the issue for a long time, are not experts in the nuances of abortion, so you should provide them with a high-level overview of the topic. To prevent your story from being reported incorrectly, get to know the reporter, help them understand the issue, and follow up with them to see what interests them.
  
  When errors occur in a story, the fault often lies with both the interviewer and the interviewee. How you respond to a question may make sense to you, but the reporter may have a different interpretation of that response. If you are not familiar with the media and how they operate, it is a good idea to get a third-party advocate, like a PR professional, to help you share your story and communicate expectations before the interview takes place.

• Exercise Professional Caution Telling your story publicly has the potential both to heal trauma and to cause it. Although a viewer can move on from an interview or video, the storyteller has to live with their story and the response they receive to it. Additionally, stories can be manipulated to serve specific agendas, risking misinterpretation of your experience. Even though sharing your story can be empowering, you cannot control who is going to use your story and how they are going to use it.

• Prepare for the Double Standard Pro-life stories are often not held to the same standard of evidence as pro-choice stories. For example, Melissa Ohden is frequently reported as an “alleged” survivor of an abortion even though she has extensive documentation of the attempt. Pro-lifers are also sometimes criticized for using “argument by anecdote,” a standard that is rarely applied to pro-choice narratives. Stay focused on your facts and do not let this double standard discourage your advocacy.

3. Dispelling Predominant Narratives

The act of storytelling helps dispel many of the predominant narratives about abortion. Thus, the Abortion Survivors Network has many survivors who have practiced telling their stories in the hopes of changing the narrative in the media. Two of their stories are featured here:

Kim’s Story

Lauren’s Story

Another abortion survivor, Lauren, was a recent college graduate when she learned the circumstances of her premature birth. Her mother was an 18-year-old college student in Arkansas, in the middle of her freshman year, when she found out she was pregnant. She decided to have an abortion. Lauren’s father was not on board with the abortion and begged her mother to reconsider, but she refused.

Her mother kept being turned away from abortion clinics for being just over the gestational limit. Finally, she found a clinic in Dallas that would perform a D&E abortion. They inserted laminaria (cervical dilators), which caused Lauren’s mother intense pain. Lauren’s father called and again begged her not to go through with the abortion, and she agreed – if he would pick her up from the hotel.

Lauren’s father had no money and no way to get to Dallas, but he borrowed a credit card from a friend from church who told him, “Go to Dallas and do whatever it takes to save your baby.” The friend assured Lauren’s father that Lauren’s mother could stay with them.

Her parents drove back to Arkansas and made an appointment with a pro-life OB-GYN, who found that the mother’s cervix had miraculously closed. Lauren’s mother moved in with the father’s church friends. She went into premature labor at 26 weeks, and Lauren was born weighing 2 pounds, 6 ounces. She spent 53 days in the NICU.

Lauren’s mother planned to place her for adoption, but when she saw Lauren, she instantly loved her. Her parents kept her and got married just after Lauren was discharged from the hospital.

Abortion survivors are sometimes wary about sharing their stories, because they want to respect their parents’ privacy. Both Kim and Lauren have their mothers’ permission to share their stories.

According to Kim, telling her story has been healing for her whole family. Her mother is still in a lot of pain about the abortion, but she is recovering and helping others.

Similarly, it took about 20 years for Lauren’s mother to be ready for her story to be shared. “It’s been such a journey, learning my story and also walking with my mom as she has healed,” says Lauren.