The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice Manual

leaders in the nearby town of Amherst to find common ground on siting residences for people
with developmental disabilities.
In late 1995, BCCG and Network staff began partnering on a pilot project to convene a
common ground community forum on teen pregnancy prevention. This issue had repeatedly
surfaced as a shared concern of pro-life and pro-choice people because of the consistently high
rate of teen pregnancy in the community. Over the next year, Network staff and a teen
pregnancy task force from BCCG carried out extensive fact-finding and planning activities that
culminated in a Teen Pregnancy Forum in October, 1996. Fifty invited community activists
from a broad religious and organizational spectrum took part in this day-and-a-half gathering.
The forum served as the catalyst for not only learning and networking across conflict lines, but
also for identifying "common ground strategies" towards teen pregnancy prevention. The
novelty of taking a common ground approach to the issue of teen pregnancy made this Buffalo
effort the subject of an ABC World News Tonight story.
BCCG continued other creative steps to take common ground into the community.
Building on the momentum created during the Teen Pregnancy Forum, they worked with a local
organization to develop the outlines of an educational program for secondary schools
emphasizing male sexual responsibility. They received funding from a local foundation to
develop a model for demonstrating the common ground approach in church settings that they
presented at local conferences for diverse religious congregations. They continued their efforts
to educate the community about the common ground approach by developing a format for a
public dialogue demonstration. The first such event, held during a major snowstorm, was
covered by all three local television stations as well as radio and newspapers. Presentations were
also made at a local university and a conference on Ethics in the Public Health Sector for the
New York State Health Commissioners.
After a murder, a New Way.
In October, 1998, BCCG, and common ground nationally, were presented with a strong
challenge by the murder of Dr. Bernard Slepian and Operation Rescue’s almost immediate
announcement of a "Save America Campaign" to be held in Buffalo in April, 1999. The need
was obvious for a response that would help depolarize and bring healing to the community, and
avert an escalation of conflict in the spring.
Immediate response. At the national level, the Network issued a press release decrying
the act of violence and encouraged local common ground groups to speak out as they felt
appropriate. One result was a prominent letter to the editor published in the Philadelphia
Inquirer. But, more importantly, BCCG, with the Network’s support, took steps which
successfully injected into the volatile local mix a common ground alternative that took hold in
the media debate and in the public imagination.