December 21, 2023
2023 was a challenging year when it came to elections for the Pro-Life Generation. Students for Life Action (SFLAction) advocated hard for life in Virginia and Ohio, facing overwhelming odds. In both Virginia and Ohio, the pro-life movement was wildly outspent and faced strong headwinds from the abortion industries’ willingness to use patently false messaging and a hostile media.
However, there were some silver linings.
READ: Letter from Students for Life Action President on Yesterday’s Election Results
OHIO
Despite the defeat at the hands of corporate-funded abortion lobbyists, SFLAction was able to pilot, test, and innovate new strategies on campus and in communities that will enhance our future ability to engage in future ballot referendum fights across the country. By the numbers, this included:
- Engaging with 28 Students for Life groups and developing substantial grassroots efforts with more than 150 volunteers.
- Directing more than 20 student-led door-knocking and dorm-knocking days, with students participating in knocking more than 85,000 doors.
- Contacting 5,990 households via phone during large nationwide call nights.
- Hosting 28 educational and voter registration displays and registering hundreds to vote at the cost of $7 per voter registered and $12 per mind changed.
- Trained more than 350 students for extensive outreach efforts.
- Empowered 25 Social Media Coordinators to reach 50,000 people weekly with a digital footprint which measured in August to be the highest social media engagement in the state, surpassing even the New York Times and other media. This specific strategy will be replicated and scaled for 2024 in other targeted general election and ballot question states.
- Garnered more than 5,300 clicks to a VOTE NO education site during the last 48 hours of the campaign using a Google search-engine optimization ad campaign.
In addition, our exit polling in Ohio showed that more than half of those who supported Issue 1 did not do so to allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Almost 9 in 10 (85%) of those who voted “No” on Issue 1 prioritized limiting abortion through all 9 months.
VIRGINIA
Things were better in Virginia, where the margin of defeat was substantially lower, and SFLAction knocked doors and mobilized voters to Vote Pro-Life First. Several excellent pro-life candidates who stood with SFLA defending life from conception onward won both their primaries and general elections, again demonstrating that life is a winning issue when messaged properly.
Additionally, two SFLA alumni (students who had been engaged in SFL activities while attending school) were elected to the Virginia House of Delegates:
- Tim Griffin, 53rd District House of Delegates
- Mark Earley Jr, 73rd District House of Delegates
Overall, the much noted Republican losses in VA touted by Democrats and some media outlets were not by pro-life candidates from swing districts, but instead incurred by pro-abortion Republicans failing in blue districts. It’s clear that the 15-week strategy employed by the VA GOP wasn’t a winner.
As we discussed in a fact-check blog, “reducing abortion as a strategy is indeed the right way to beat Democrats on abortion. We argued that in a previous blog: going moderate on positions that are deeply important to pro-life voters won’t turn out the base.
In fact, polling by You Gov/Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement has shown that heartbeat abortion protection limits and limits when a baby can feel pain poll at basically the same levels. However, the limit at the detection of a fetal heartbeat will save more lives as more than 9 in 10 abortions take place in 12 weeks.”
Emily Brewer, among other candidates, was willing to take public positions to support Life at Conception protections if elected. And with this principled position, she flipped her district from Democrat to Republican. Additionally, several other candidates that did the same in places where we mobilized to educate voters about the candidates’ positions on the life issue,
READ: Washington Post Fact Check: No, 15 Weeks Didn’t Win in Virginia – But Life at Conception Did
Partnerships with organizations like the Virginia Family Foundation were strengthened throughout the fall elections. SFLAction hosted four volunteer super Saturdays and knocked on almost 3,000 doors. We also hosted two text-banking nights with the Family Foundation, where our volunteers provided the labor, and their organization covered the peer-to-peer texting costs.
Like in OH, SFLAction pioneered new methods for campus and voter engagement that we will roll out and scale for 2024 elections, including:
- Engaging in a “dorm canvassing drive,” pioneering this tactic at George Mason University.
- Integrating state specific, election-themed messaging into our campus tours.
- Mobilizing over 1,500 people for prayer calls to trust God with the outcome of our efforts.
- Registering and chasing voters, targeting Christian college campuses likely to have pro-life students not yet registered or unlikely to otherwise vote.
As SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins said in her post-election message, “Our mission to end abortion is a marathon, not a sprint.” Our movement is growing and developing strategies and tactics for fighting ballot initiatives in 2024 and beyond. No one election cycle tells the entire story of the Pro-Life Generation. See you next year.