Texting poll aims to highlight media influence in abortion debate

Austin, Texas, Jan 25, 2011 / 22:42 pm

The pro-life group Heroic Media launched a massive texting poll to hundreds of thousands of participants at the West Coast Walk for Life and the D.C. March for Life this past weekend, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of media influence on the debate over abortion.

At the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Monday, mobile billboards and crowd volunteers encouraged participants to text their opinions about abortion as part of a new nationwide poll.

“We are trying to see how many people are aware of the role mainstream media and Planned Parenthood play in promoting abortion versus promoting a culture of life,” spokesperson Kimberly Guidry Speirs said in a Jan. 25 e-mail.

Heroic Media – headquartered in Austin with offices nationwide – launched the national campaign this weekend at the Walk For Life West Coast in San Francisco, which was held on Jan. 22, and at the Jan. 24 March for Life 2011 in Washington D.C.

“These walks and marches celebrate life and stand in opposition to the violence of abortion,” said Heroic Media President Brian Follett.

“The anniversary of Roe v. Wade encourages reflection on the deaths of 52 million unborn children and the millions of women who suffer emotional scars from the procedure.”

Follett said that in his organization's work to provide educational resources on alternatives for women in crisis pregnancies, he has seen that “once women learn about hopeful alternatives, they usually choose life.”

He said that the pro-life media organization helps assist pregnancy resource centers that do not have the funding to promote media that will let women know where they can find help. The group regularly uses  television, radio, billboards, bus shelter ads and Internet messaging to spread its message.

Follett noted that in cities where Heroic Mediaʼs commercials have aired consistently, the abortion rates have decreased as much as 20 percent.