A microphone is not a movement. Yet, another fundraising dinner?
- David Lane
- May 12
- 4 min read
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “the anti-abortion lobby expected to be [much] more triumphant by now: A conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade [because of Donald J. Trump], Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and the self-styled ‘most pro-life president in history’ again occupies the Oval Office.
“But abortions are up in the years after the overturning of Roe, and the anti-abortion lobby has a new locus for blame. ‘Trump is the problem. The president is the problem,’ Marjorie Dannenfelser, the influential president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.”¹
There is just one thing wrong with this scenario.
Two months before Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, we warned that the Supreme Court’s potential overturning of the fatally flawed 1973 Roe v. Wade decision should cause Evangelical and Pro-Life Catholic Christians to pause and think soberly about what was coming next.
“Specifically,” we wrote on April 14, 2022, “with the U.S. Supreme Court looking as if it may overturn Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson case, tremendous pressure is about to be applied to state legislators and courts.
“The battle, then, over snuffing out the lives of babies in utero will move from the Judiciary to the Legislative Branch of government - hence to a place where grassroots, precinct-level organizing determines success or failure. Christians will have to take their civics game, therefore, to a whole other level.”
What has transpired since Dobbs has been, in large measure, a failure on the part of the Evangelical and Pro-Life Catholic constituency, particularly in its rudimentary understanding of grassroots, precinct-level organizing, the largest denomination of political currency.
To practically all contemporary Evangelical leaders, ‘mobilizing’ means creating another opportunity for them to speak. But speaking, in and of itself, is not a denomination of political currency. A microphone is not a movement. A platform is not a ground game. And another speech, however eloquent, is not the same as delivering votes when the battle moves from the courtroom to the legislature.
So let’s talk openly about the anti-abortion lobby.
Over the last 50 years or so, a comfortable and cushy cottage industry has arisen around the pro-life movement. Some organizations rake in $10 to $15 million annually while focusing largely on glitzy galas, glistening banquets, celebrity orators, and omnipresent fundraising appeals.
And in doing so, they expose the central weakness of contemporary pro-life leadership: ineptitude at grassroots, precinct-level organizing.
A gala is not a ground game. A banquet is not a ballot strategy. A fundraising letter is not precinct-level mobilization. And blaming Donald Trump for what the pro-life establishment failed to build after Dobbs is not leadership.
It is evasion.
A well-respected pro-life leader and consultant wrote of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s recent gala success: “We had 11 Senators, 30 House members, and the Speaker at our gala a few nights ago. Speaker Johnson stayed for 30 minutes while a vote was held open.”
But what is being discussed are two very different types of political currency.
One is Washington currency: access, proximity, photo opportunities, gala attendance, elected officials in the room, and the appearance of influence. That currency can raise money. It can impress donors. It can fill a ballroom. It can create the appearance that the movement is powerful.
The other is governing currency: votes delivered, precincts organized, pastors mobilized, churches activated, candidates recruited, local offices won, state legislators pressured, and ballot measures defeated.
The first currency is useful inside the Beltway.
The second currency determines whether babies in utero live or die after Dobbs.
The fatal mistake of the modern pro-life establishment is confusing the first for the second. Eleven Senators, 30 House members, and the Speaker at a gala may signal access. But access is not organization. A ballroom is not a ground game. A photo with leadership is not precinct-level mobilization. And a fundraising dinner is not a strategy for winning in Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, or any other state where the abortion battle is now being fought.
American Christendom has made the same mistake for the last 100 years. It has measured success by church attendance, large buildings, big budgets, multiple campuses, and celebrity pastors - while the culture slipped through its fingers.
The pro-life movement must not repeat that error.
After Dobbs, the yardstick is no longer who came to the banquet. The yardstick is who can deliver votes, organize precincts, recruit candidates, and win legislative battles.
Washington currency may open doors.
Grassroots currency wins wars.
That is where the future is decided. Not in the ballroom, but on the battlefield.
And God is never in a hurry. He trained David among “those few sheep in the wilderness” before He placed him before Goliath. He reduced Gideon’s army before He routed Midian. He placed Rahab in Jericho before the walls ever fell.
The lesson is plain: God does not need more celebrities, more galas, more platforms, or more photo opportunities. He needs faithful men and women willing to stand in the obscure places before anyone knows their names.
The pro-life movement does not need another banquet to celebrate access. American Christendom does not need another speech about influence. What is needed now are pastors, precinct captains, county commissioners, school board members, state legislators, and faithful believers who understand that somebody’s values will reign supreme in the public square.
After Dobbs, neutrality is over. The battlefield has moved to the states, the counties, the school districts, the legislatures, and the precincts. And there, in those overlooked places, God is raising Gideons and Rahabs.
Thankfully, they have begun to stand, and the gates of hell shall not prevail.
David Lane
American Renewal Project
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