‘A Normandy Beach moment’: Pro-Life Digital Strategies VP shares how his group directed Florida’s defeat of abortion lobby’s Amendment 4

Florida’s historic defeat on Election Day of the radical Amendment 4 ballot measure was a “Normandy Beach moment” that proved the pro-life movement could win out over the well-funded campaigns of the abortion industry.

That’s according to the vice president of public affairs of the data analytics group that worked with the pro-life community to achieve the Sunshine State’s victory.

“In Florida, I think the key there was we learned lessons from previous losses, and then we were able to apply those – with more modern methods of communicating our message – and I think that made a key difference,” Scott Baker of Cogency Strategic told CatholicVote in an interview this week.

As a result of working with clients Keep Florida Pro-Life, Pro-Life Action Ministries (PLAM), Action for Life, and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), Cogency implemented advanced digital strategies to defeat the amendment that sought to overturn Florida’s “heartbeat” law and enshrine “abortion rights” in the state’s constitution.

Despite the abortion lobby pouring more than $100 million into Florida, the amendment never achieved the required 60% threshold to succeed. 

Cogency Strategic, Baker explained, is a pro-life organization whose employees are pro-life. In addition to abortion, they take on other pro-life issues, such as euthanasia. 

The group’s data-driven strategy includes leveraging cutting-edge technology, targeted outreach, and fundraising directed to deliver “hyper-targeted digital ads” that impact both donors and voters. 

Baker shared how his organization delivers targeted outreach:

Let’s take, for example, the impact that these amendments have on parental consent when it comes to abortion. So, in Ohio, those advertisements and those messages were sent out in a “cast a wide net” kind of way. It was just sent out to the public at large. And what they found afterwards was, well, it had mixed results in terms of impact. So, what we did, instead, is we took that and we were able to make sure in Florida that that message got to, for example, parents of younger children. We got it to the people who would actually care about that. And that really increases the chances that it’s going to resonate.

Baker explained that the brevity of Florida’s proposed amendment – versus Missouri’s Amendment 3, a “sweeping” measure that was passed by voters – proved to be a “big difference.”

“The changes in Missouri are sweeping and will include things like gender transition surgeries and things like that,” he noted:

In Florida, we found that the things that resonated the most were late-term abortion. Certainly, we focused on how passage of the amendment would have allowed late-term abortion, parental consent. Sex trafficking is a big one that I think even resonates with more moderate voters – if you can help them understand how removing abortion restrictions really enhances the sex trafficking trade. That’s a message that resonates. And, so, we had a lot of success there as well.

Nevertheless, extensive ad campaigns by the abortion lobby attempted to create fear with the false claim that pro-life laws prevent women in pregnancy emergencies like miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies from obtaining lifesaving care. 

In some of the pro-abortion ads and op-eds, doctors claimed to fear they would “go to jail” in a pro-life state if they performed an abortion on a woman to save her life – even though every state with a pro-life law allows exceptions in cases of medical emergencies.

“In fact, we had doctors on record in some of our ads refuting that, talking about how women can get life-saving care under the current law,” Baker told CatholicVote. “That was also the case in Missouri. And that’s patently false. But, of course, our side doesn’t have the same amount of resources to spread that message like the other side does.”

It’s not surprising, he added, to see pro-abortion doctors coming out in favor of these radical amendments – which ultimately save them from responsibility.

“It’s because they strip away accountability,” he explained. “They strip away a woman’s right to hold them accountable for malpractice and for lack of safety standards and things like that.”

Baker pointed out how his organization also targeted the vagueness of the term “healthcare provider” in Florida’s Amendment 4. The measure read: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” 

“A ‘healthcare provider’ is not well-defined,” Baker observed:

That could mean anybody – including the abortion provider, right? And, so, that’s like going to a used car dealer and asking them if you should buy a used car or not. They’re going to say, Yeah, of course. You know they stand to gain financially. What do you think an abortion doctor is going to say about whether you should get an abortion or not? I think common-sense people see through that. It’s just a matter of getting that message in front of the right people.

Yet another thought-provoking ad posed an ethical question targeted to centrist Florida voters: “If abortion is ‘healthcare,’ shouldn’t it be regulated like healthcare?” 

With seven abortion ballot amendments having passed in the nation on Election Day, Baker said he expects more ballot initiatives in the future.

“Looking forward, the most important thing is that states, number one, realize the fight is coming to them,” he warned:

Doesn’t matter what state you live in, doesn’t matter how bright red, pro-life you are. I mean, we’ve already seen that. You cannot start too early when it comes to educating the public about what is true and what is not when it comes to abortion. I mean, the other side’s whole playbook is based upon lying and distorting. And as much as we can get ahead of that, we need to do it. You can’t do it too soon.

A Cogency Strategic press release noted that although the abortion lobby outspent pro-life efforts seven-to-one, Cogency Strategic “crafted a bold plan that prioritized precise digital targeting,” and ultimately “reached 5.6 million voters and generated over 34 million impressions across Florida.”

The organization’s successes in the Florida campaign included achieving a 3% engagement rate – the industry standard is 1.5% – and high engagement from Hispanic voters.

Cogency Strategic works with pro-life advocacy groups who want to impact an election or public opinion regarding abortion. Baker alerts pro-life organizations to note that even those that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service code “need to realize that they can educate people about this issue.”

“They do not have to sit on the sidelines – they’ve received a lot of bad advice, I think, over the years,” he said. “And, fortunately, we saw a few c3s stand up in Florida. I think that made a big difference. And, so, moving forward, I think it’s important for all of these groups to get active early.”

“We’re never going to match the other side – dollar for dollar,” Baker said, acknowledging the financial struggle for pro-life organizations. “However, if we are strategic in what we’re doing, I think Florida proved that we can beat them.”