Every January, the pro-life movement is recognized during the famous March for Life in Washington D.C. where thousands peacefully march in support. This is the centerpiece of what most pro-life groups plan year-round. During my 20-plus years managing the promotion of the pro-life message, I’ve been able to observe and organize creative messaging throughout the year, surrounding leading the event.
Here are 12 times and ways you can celebrate your pro-life message across the calendar, to encourage donations, create news media awareness, provide helpful resources, and invite community involvement. (Download your Ultimate Pro-Life Editorial Calendar PDF here.)
March For Life (January)
Obviously, this is a cornerstone event for most pro-life organizations. As you look forward to the New Year, new hope and new life should be celebrated at this amazing event.
The key is how does your organization uniquely fit into the national event? It could be as special as your own local march or a creative public program educating on the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Valentine’s Day (February)
This holiday is your chance to speak out on the power of love among couples and family. The focus can be on family, but also how your organization loves both the mothers and babies. What a great way to minister to a mother in a crisis pregnancy and in need of an encouraging message.
You could have social media post with a picture of a mother and daughter who your organization helped during a crisis pregnancy with a valentine graphic and encourage people to share it.
Siblings Day/Sister Day/Brother Day (April)
Another member of the family that could be impacted by the choice to keep a child is current brothers and sisters. From the viewpoint of an older sister who would be excited to have another family member, playmate, and best friend for life, the social media and email message could center around the happiness from a child that they now have a sibling.
You could share the life of someone like Claire Culwell whose twin was aborted, yet she survived.
Graduation (April / May)
There are other annual events that can be connected to the pro-life movement including a student’s graduation. With so many high schoolers looking to go off to college during graduation, now is the time to encourage them to look for and join a student pro-life group at their university.
Encouraging and training up our youth “in the way they should go” is a necessary part of maintaining the pro-life legacy for generations.
Post about organizations like Students For Life America to help both with high school and college in university pro-life work.
Mother’s Day (May)
Consider Mother’s Day and the days leading up to it as a special time to celebrate a pro-life mom that your organization has helped. Feature where she was before meeting you, how you connected, and the impact you’ve made.
You can promote statistics about moms in your community. Create data around moms in your area. Discuss what is available to support them with pregnancy resources. For example: share how many babies are born. Talk about prenatal and support services for moms who keep their baby.
Father’s Day (June)
If we’ve celebrated the pro-life mother on Mother’s Day. We should also celebrate the pro-life father on Father’s Day!
We don’t often talk about the impact of the father during challenging times and the decision to keep a child. Besides the baby and the mother, the father should also be supported. Fathers may have fears over an unexpected baby and think they can’t handle the added responsibility. This is the time to encourage and give strength to future fathers facing the future of their growing family.
School Year Beginnings (August / September)
If your child is just beginning the school year, perhaps in high school or junior high, the start of the year is the perfect time to talk about volunteering opportunities. Does your organization support mothers with baby formula, diapers, baby clothes, and other essentials?
Many schools require honors students to obtain a certain number of volunteer hours. Students could make your organization their focus for collecting much-needed supplies or monetary donations.
For school beginnings, you could encourage young people to join a university pro-life organization like We Dignify to participate on campus as a pro-life advocate.
National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children (September)
The National Day of Remembrance is an event in the country that memorializes aborted babies. You can find out who in your area is participating. If we mourn the death of our fallen military, we should also remember the unborn babies.
World Children’s Day (November)
The United Nations celebrates the World Children’s Day each year to “promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare.” This is another opportunity to communicate how your organization literally supports that day all year long.
Christmas (December)
A lesser focused fact about Christmas is that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was actually a foster parent. Mary appeared to have an illegitimate child, which is why Joseph wanted to quickly divorce her. This is perhaps one of the most awkward births in all of history that brought about the greatest salvation for all people.
The same thing applies to every family that keeps a baby after an unforeseen circumstance. It is a right decision to keep a baby, even when facing challenges of the days ahead.
A wonderful gift to give to new parents this time of year is “What Mary and Joseph Knew About Parenting.”
Pro-Life Anniversary
Every year, just like a birthday, your pro-life organization has the opportunity to celebrate its anniversary. This is a great time to feature a feel-good story that coincides with a banquet or community awareness event.
Breaking News
With the change of administration in Washington, there will be new issues related to abortion relevant to your pro-life organization. When something is published by the media takes front stage, this is your opportunity to respond.
If you work with a pro-life lobbyist in your state, make sure you get the news right away of any pro-abortion bills that your organization would want to oppose in order to share with your constituency or possibly any commentaries or op-eds in the media for why it should be opposed.
Consider writing a commentary for the local newspaper or a blog article for your website. Studies have shown that communication about breaking news receives higher attention on social media and email opens, so this is a good way to capitalize on promoting your message.
Strategic Communication, Proactively or In Crisis
I’ve worked with many pro-life organizations over the years, to help them strategize and capitalize on current events or a situation that involved their movement. Sometimes a pro-life organization finds itself under attack by the local media or there is a campaign underway by an abortion clinic. In these situations, we provide a 30-minute, no cost consultation to evaluate whether the situation is something that should be addressed or if negative publicity will go away on its own. If the situation needs to be addressed, we’ll discuss the positive opportunities and the reputation of the pro-life organization with the community.
Taking control of the current circumstance will help you promote and protect your pro-life organization. TC Public Relations knows how to advance your mission and cut through the media headlines to deliver your message to give you maximum visibility, increased awareness, and to encourage greater support from your constituency.
(Download your Ultimate Pro-Life Editorial Calendar PDF here.)