What Are the Communication Strategies?
This doesn’t mean that the referendum campaign isn’t important. Besides the cost and distraction of a legal suit, it represents a dramatic new interpretative battle over a major societal and legal concept. Personhood proponents are framing the issue as the only morally acceptable way to respect human life, as well as likening the battle over the referendum–and against abortion generally– to the struggle to end slavery. Opponents of the proposed amendment are attacking it from three perspectives: women’s rights, government intrusion, and religious freedom. Perhaps most notably, as was the case with Gay Marriage amendments in 2004, the referendum might have important impacts on voter turn out and decision-making in the Governors’ race and key Congressional races. In my next post, I will examine communication strategies in depth.
