I've been interested in the recent diaries illustrating new framing opportunities for issues such as abortion. The idea is to reduce the issue to a core value. In the case of abortion, it was suggested the core value is privacy. This isn't really about "choice," because that in itself is a fairly empty value. Instead, this is about the right to make your decisions without the government butting in. Privacy. Well, that's the idea, anyway. This has been in the back of my mind for a couple of days, and I think it misses the mark. The other side is crying "murder." I don't think privacy is a defense of murder.
More after the fold...
Let's say you find the pro-life argument somewhat reasonable. You think that perhaps an unborn child is a human life, just like any other. You could see that perhaps aborting this life is something like murder. Then you look to the other side to see their argument amounts to, "Hey, stay out of my business!" Well, that just sounds like they're saying, "Let me murder in peace!" It almost lends credence to the pro-life argument. What is up with these "pro-privacy" people? What are they hiding? Seems rather suspicious, doesn't it?
I don't think the abortion debate is about privacy. Outlawing abortion no more affects privacy than outlawing murder. With a law against abortion, you could still go to the doctor without anybody knowing. I understand the angle. As with the recent Schiavo fiasco, we don't want the government interfering with our private affairs. But the problem with the Schiavo situation was that congress interfered in this one particular case. The pro-lifers are talking about one overreaching principle that applies to everyone.
Let's reexamine the issue. What is the pro-choice argument really about? It's about having the freedom to practice medicine in accordance with the ethical guidelines established by the profession. What is abortion? It's a medical procedure. And there's your answer.
The abortion frame should be "Pro-Health."
And this dovetails into the healthcare issue. Because that's what Democrats want -- they want to increase doctor's ability to practice medicine. The conservatives want to limit doctor's abilities to practice medicine.
We have the leg up on this one, because Democrats are already associated with health care. In fact, we're already two thirds of the way there -- we frequently combine the abortion issue with the healthcare issue, but only because the two are so naturally intertwined. We have never made a point of defining abortion as being a pro-health issue. We've tried, sort of, but not really.
Now how does the credibility of this issue stack up on both sides? On the left, they say that they want abortion legal because they are pro-health. Is this consistent? Yes -- they've always been big on health care. They don't like risking lives of soldiers. They like medicare. They want clean air and clean water. They seem to know a lot about health.
Now the conservatives say they want to outlaw abortion because they're pro-life. Does this add up? Mmmmm... Not really. In fact, none of their other positions are consistent with the idea they value life.
The point is, by framing the abortion issue as pro-health, we're effectively prying the issue away from the right. We're saying, "we're the ones who truly value life, not you." And that's an idea we can sell.