The argument surrounding life in the womb is currently waged across the internet via thumbs furiously typing out requests and demands for the “right” side. In a war that requires short tweets and signs during marches, both sides have developed a stratagem of appealing to voters succinctly. On Twitter, both sides display their positions and debate with as many rebuttals as desired. Planned Parenthood (the anti-life position) has excelled on social media, running many successful campaigns and trade-marking the color pink (although it is shared with breast cancer awareness programs). One stance Planned Parenthood has used to undermine opponents is that the pro-lifers don’t really care about women, they just want to control women into doing what they believe is “right”. An adept tactic, yet one the pro-lifers have seized as one to refute; Lila Rose, head of the leading pro-life organization Live Action, has attempted to show her love not just for babies but for women as well in her social media profile: the header includes the slogan: “Love them both”. This small acquiescence by Ms. Rose not only strengthens her cause but also embodies part of Corder’s argument: “Argument is emergence towards the other” (Corder, 26).
Strategies and tactics are being implemented in an interesting manner on the most recent debate involving Live Action and Twitter itself. Live Action has been refused the ability to buy ads on Twitter according to Twitter’s Hate and Sensitive Topic Policy, even though Planned Parenthood is allowed to buy ads. If a strategy is, according to deCertau, “…the calculation of power relationships that becomes possible as soon as a subject with will and power (a business, an army, a city, a scientific institution) can be isolated” (deCertau, 36), then Live Action has lost its power on Twitter and therefore its ultimate strategy is futile. Therefore, Live Action has had to resort to tactics, “…an art of the weak…” by striking back at Twitter in order to gain the new audience it had hoped to reach through the ads (strategic plan) that were thwarted by Twitter (deCertau, 37). Live Action’s tactics have ranged from interviews on major cable news (Fox with Tucker Carlson), to posting and trending on, ironically, Twitter. Tweets by Live Action attempt to get the news out into the open by displaying the issue succinctly through photos and links to full articles that show the entire conversation between Twitter and Live Action. Of course, as soon as the whole conversation was brought to Twitter and the internet, many Twitter users used their own tweets to accuse and rebuke Twitter. The rebukes varied from personal objections, to Legal arguments involving the first amendment, to displaying photos of Twitter’s own Mom-centric ads. By thwarting Live Action (for over a year), Twitter was able to strip power away from the pro-life group and therefore deprive Live Action of a strategic plan. However, by dismantling Live Action’s strategy, Twitter enhanced Live Action’s tactical situation.