Protest Day Plan and Program

With the advanced planning accomplished — or well underway — it’s time to turn to the specific details for the Defund Planned Parenthood Protest itself:

Special jobs for your helpers

Several of these jobs are important enough to be explained in greater detail in the sections below (follow the links in this list):

Sign Distributor(s) to help you pass out all your signs. You can ask some of the first people to arrive to help with this job
Leafleter(s) to distribute any printed materials you may have to Protest attendees and the general public. Pick extroverts, and remind them to smile, look people in the eyes and say, “This is for you” or “I have some important information for you,” or the like
Master of Ceremonites (Emcee) to keep the program moving smoothly (this could be you)
Photographer to shoot lots of pictures of the special, attendees, passersby, etc.
Videographer to shoot footage of the special guests and (optionally) record interviews
Media Liaison to whom all inquiries from reporters will be referred
Police Liaison who will be the sole person to work with the police
Head Counter to take an accurate count of how many people attend the protest (including infants and children!)

Protest Day program and emcee role

If there will be a program element to your Protest, you’ll need someone to fill the role of Emcee.

Quite likely you, the Protest leader, would be the most appropriate emcee. Other options include another member of your leadership team or a local Christian radio personality. The emcee will be responsible for:

Calling the Protest to order,
Introducing the person offering the opening prayer,
Introducing each of the special guests (speakers, singers, etc.)
Introducing the person offering the closing prayer, and
Closing the Protest with action items.

The bulk of your program will most likely be brief speeches and prayers from the special guests you’ve lined up. It’s important that you encourage your guest speakers to keep abortion and defunding Planned Parenthood front and center in their talks, and be sure not to let the Protest stray into partisan politics instead of the lives of unborn children. If you choose to have politicians of any kind speak at your Protest, make it clear that this is not a campaign event.

Share the agenda with your special guests in advance so they know where they fit into the program. However, it’s best not to tell them exactly when they’re speaking, lest any delay in the program cause them to become impatient. But do let each guest speaker know how long you expect them to have the stage.

Documenting your Protest

It is critical for you to carefully document your Protest so that you can spread the word about what was accomplished in your city. And if the local media give scant or no coverage to the event, it becomes urgent to disseminate your own account, photos and videos through every possible channel.

See “Document and Share News of your Pro-Life Event” on the Pro-Life Action League’s website for detailed instructions on how to document your event.

Action items for Protest Participants

At the conclusion of your Protest, give participants some “marching orders” to expand the impact of your event past the Protest day. Marching orders can include:

Pray daily for the defunding of Planned Parenthood
Talk to friends, neighbors and family about why defunding Planned Parenthood is good for America
Get involved in pro-life efforts in your community, like prayer and sidewalk counseling at your local abortion facility, or volunteering at a local pregnancy center
Remind the crowd that our work is just beginning to extend legal protection to every unborn child and provide real support to every unborn child’s mother
Encourage participants to text the word LIFE to 33777 to be alerted when important pro-life action and legislation campaigns are happening. (This will also ensure they receive updates about future events YOU organize in your community in conjunction with the National Team at no expense to you!)