Effective Campaign Strategies Regarding Reproductive Health and Related Issues

Caroline Fettes

Department of Government and Sociology, GCSU

POLS 4950: Women in Politics

Dr. Victoria Gordon

25 November 2022
 Section I: Running as a Woman

The campaign trail is something of a battleground. A familiar warzone for men, whose

experience in democratic exploits runs back to the elections of ancient Rome, but a less known

entity for women, for whom official participation in politics is a comparatively young option.

As such, female-led campaigns are often highly scrutinized by competitors and analyzed by

supporters to determine which strategies will lead to success.

Due to the deep association in society between women and domesticity, women often

find themselves utilizing two distinct “voices” while campaigning: the more feminine voice,

which conveys an ethic of care and support for social issues, and the more masculine voice,

which asserts itself as a force to match the strength of her male opponents (Windett, 2013).

This dual-voice approach tends to lead women to mention domestic social issues such as

education abortion much more frequently, while men are more vocal on issues pertaining to

foreign or economic policy.

This approach isn’t necessarily a detriment – in fact, it has a higher success rate for

women than a single-voice strategy and is driven by previous understandings in voter behavior

(Herrnson et al., 2003). Still, this strategy alone isn’t enough to guarantee a victory at the ballot

box; rather, it goads male candidates into doubling down on their own social policy platforms,

allowing them to slowly chip away at the female candidate’s voter base and appear as a more
well-rounded candidate. This can morph into a complicated political dance, each movement

adapted to the other candidates in the running (Schneider, 2013). For this reason, while the

dual-voice strategy is not to be ignored, it’s important to focus also on the content of the

campaign, not just the framework around which the campaign is constructed.

Section II: Reproductive Health

A woman running for office tends to garner a large female voter base simply because

she is a fellow woman; this effect is so widespread that many Republican women will vote for

a Democratic candidate by virtue of it being a woman (Brians, 2005). With the opposition

aimed at dissolving that female bloc, woman candidates must be steadfast in their support of

reproductive health – a major issue which pertains specifically to the female body, and is likely

to retain more voters than overemphasizing the traditionally “masculine” ones.

Reproductive health, especially considering the recent overturn of Roe v Wade, has

become a debate that draws people to the polls. As seen during the 2022 Kansas referendum,

in which a state constitutional amendment was proposed that would remove protections for

abortion rights, a shocking 908.7k voters turned up to cast their ballots – dwarfing the year’s

earlier Senate race by almost 200k (Ballotpedia, 2022). Now more than ever, a female

candidate’s voice regarding female-centric issues will carry more weight than a male
candidate’s; because of this, a solid platform with reproductive health as one of its pillars is

likely to do well with Democrats as a whole and Republican women alike.

On the flipside, Republican women whose pro-life views clash directly with the female

candidate’s platform may view her opinions as a form of class treachery, and vice versa, which

creates a deep divide between the two camps. To capitalize on the feminist aspect of

reproductive health, conservatives have pointed to the occurrence of female infanticide and

sex-selective abortions, which decimated female populations in China after the introduction

of the one-child policy and continues to have detrimental effects in the sex ratio today. They

posit questions about the ethics of allowing for parents to intentionally remove female babies

from the populations – isn’t it counterintuitive to the feminist movement to reduce the

percentage of women in society?

This line of questioning is relevant to the issue of femicide, but is fallacious in its focus

on abortion access. It can be rebutted with relative ease if the candidate points out that the

choice to have an abortion is not made in a social and emotional vacuum. The decision to

terminate a pregnancy is influenced by a number of other factors – socioeconomic status,

readiness for parenthood, willingness to raise a child, relationship with the father, and many

more. In the case of femicide, the primary reasoning behind sex-selective abortions is that male

children are valued more highly in society – not that the mother is intrinsically prejudiced
against her own female child to the point that she’d terminate it. In these cases, the solution

to the femicide problem isn’t to outlaw abortion access but to remedy the social pressures to

produce males.

Section III: Education

In order for reproductive health to remain a priority, federal education systems must

be revamped. Current sex education classes are uneven across school districts; while there

should be some leeway to adjust curricula and methods in different areas, the aim of these

modules should be to inform young men and women about the changes their bodily processes

will be undergoing as they reach puberty, not to scaremonger teenagers into celibacy. Making

anatomy-based courses more uniform across the board would elevate the baseline level of

teenagers’ understanding of the subject and contribute to more thoughtful, insightful

decision-making in terms of sexual activity. Unfortunately, abstinence-only sex ed courses have

proved to be for the most part ineffective, both in conveying anatomical knowledge and in

reducing the early development of sexual behaviors.

Methodology centered around discouraging adolescents from engaging in sexual

activity, rather than comprehension of the functioning of sexual organs and how they interact,

actually displays a strong correlation with increased rates of teenage pregnancy and abortion

(Kohler et al., 2008). This is likely due to the fact that abstinence-only methods tend to espouse
emotional rhetoric as opposed to practical information; the emotional impact lessens as time

wears on, and the effect on students wanes. Left with little understanding of how sex as an

activity works, pupils are then more likely to experiment sexually with their peers and reap

unintended consequences of those actions.

As such, it is in the interest of Republican women to support these education

prerogatives, as it would lead to comparatively fewer terminated pregnancies. Advocating for

sex education reform would thus be a way to rein back in the Republican women who may

have flipped back red in protest of the female candidate’s support of abortion access.

Section IV: Environment

Though a step removed from the immediacy of reproductive health, environmental

issues are nonetheless critical to the maintenance of a healthy population, and are an

important part of the conversation in any policy prescription involving reproduction. Aside

from climate change – a pressing issue, but one which is less relevant to this campaign advice

– the benefits of improving environmental conditions are many, especially in regard to

development and gestation. Exposure to toxic chemical compounds – most prevalent in

impoverished communities – is a major risk for pregnant women; should these chemicals cross

the placenta, which is common, the fetus may be threatened.

 Along with spontaneous miscarriage, fetuses exposed to various compounds while

gestating can suffer congenital defects, intellectual and cognitive impairments, and

predisposition to childhood cancers (Blake et al., 2015). Similar to the ongoing situation in

Iceland, genetic testing on fetuses with prenatal exposure to toxins could lead to a gradual

increase in abortion rates as environmental conditions deteriorate further – this provides an

opportunity for a female candidate to express her approval for environmental protection

policies without driving away the Republican women’s voter bloc by solely discussing climate

change, which they may or may not acknowledge as scientific fact.

Even without prenatal exposure, consequences of negative environmental attributes

are prominent among school-age children. Juveniles are especially sensitive to accumulation

of pollutants in their surroundings because of the rapid fluctuations of hormones and

biochemical compounds in their growing bodies; preteens and teenagers are susceptible to

brain abnormalities such as dendritic trimming, which essentially “prunes” dendrites –

specialized neurons which conduct neurotransmitters – from the rest of the neurons without

meaning. In short, it slows cognitive functioning by reducing the amount of paths which

neurotransmitters can take to get from one locus to another (Bearer, 1995). They’re also

vulnerable to decreased lung volume, which is associated with respiratory issues later in life,

and gonadal abnormalities, which can affect their ability to have children after maturation.
 Section V: Foreign Policy Objectives

Synthesis of the three aforementioned policy objectives assists in the formation of a

strong social platform for a female candidate running for federal office. Combined with strong

economic and foreign initiatives, this combination is likely to generate a strong voter base

among both Democrats and Republican women.

Complementary foreign initiatives would likely include strengthening ties with

socially progressive countries and applying pressure to countries whose humanitarian efforts

are lacking. One such nation could be Iran, in which the protests regarding the death of 22-

year-old Mahsa Amini are ongoing, and many more activists have been killed, including 16-

year-old Nika Shakarami, 22-year-old Hadis Najafi, and 445 others (Reuters, 2022). Iran would

work especially well as their present human rights abuses are concerning the freedom of

women; increasing pressure to resolve the protests would show strong resolve to protecting

the rights of women both domestically and abroad.

Issues of state sovereignty may arise in the event that pressure becomes too overbearing,

but the United States are capable of withdrawing from the oil industry in the Middle East to

a certain extent – this would correspond nicely with green energy initiatives within the

environmental sphere, and provide jobs to American laborers, which would also appeal to

moderate Republicans, for whom economic prosperity is a major priority.

 Section VI: Concluding Remarks

Obtaining office as a female candidate entails more difficulties than for a male

candidate, but with the right balance of tactics and strategic platforming, it’s not at all

impossible for a victory at the polls. Still, more important than any advice I could give is the

intrinsic passion for the American people that is required to take on such a daunting task as

becoming a federal representative. It’s not enough to be informed; it’s not enough to utilize a

dual-voice approach. Any candidate – male or female – must have drive, ambition, and desire

to better the country for everyone. Guidance can only take someone so far. The real triumph

has to come from within.

 Works Cited

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Brians, C. L. (2005). Women for Women?: Gender and Party Bias in Voting for Female

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McCue, K. A., Richmond, D., Shah, A., Sutton, P., Woodruff, T. J., van der Poel, S.

Z., & Giudice, L. C. (2015). International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgo.2015.09.002

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