MA has adapted the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts for Service for use in MA with express permission from Alcoholics Anonymous. A.A. is the copyright holder for these materials, and they cannot be altered without express permission from A.A. MA World Services can only seek this permission to alter these copyrighted materials in connection with the procedures in MA’s Service Manual and Bylaws for conducting a fellowship-wide vote and obtaining 3/4 of groups/meetings in favor of any proposed change. Service Manual, Ver. 8.0, pg. 51-52, and Appendix I: Foundation Documents.
When MA had a fellowship-wide vote in 2022-2023, in accordance with the policies and procedures set forth in MA’s SM, to determine whether or not to change “God” to “Higher Power” in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, MA World Services also contacted A.A. in advance to obtain express written permission to make the proposed changes if 3/4 of the meetings/groups voted in favor of the proposed changes (which they did not).
Making changes to these materials on a meeting by meeting basis, or as an entire region or district, not only violates MA’s Traditions, policies and procedures, but also infringes on A.A.’s copyrights. This is a matter that greatly affects MA as a whole, and so meetings do not have the autonomy to make such changes without going through the fellowship-wide voting process. If MA groups or meetings were to change A.A.’s copyrighted materials, this could jeopardize MA’s relationship with A.A. and lead to costly lawsuits for infringing their copyrights.
MA’s copyrighted Life with Hope also cannot be changed without first gaining Conference-approval (by submitting an agenda item to the annual business Conference for the Conference body to vote on). MA World Services has entered into publishing agreements with Hazelden to publish and distribute MA’s literature, and making changes to this literature on a meeting or district basis may violate these agreements, which could jeopardize MA’s ability to publish and make MA literature available for members to purchase.
It is also confusing to MA members, especially newer members, if certain meetings/groups or districts/regions decided to use different versions of the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions or Life with Hope. Making changes to these copyrighted materials therefore affects MA as a whole (Tradition Four) by:
- interfering with MA unity (Tradition One); and
- confusing MA members (especially newcomers!)
- interfering with MA’s ability to fulfill its primary purpose and “carry the message,” of recovery (Tradition Five).
- violating MA’s publishing agreements, which risks MA’s ability to make MA literature available for purchase, and may delay the publication of “Living Every Day with Hope” which is currently being negotiated
- risking damage to MA’s reputation and relationships (with other fellowships, Hazelden which publishes MA literature, and beyond);
- All of which risks time-consuming and costly lawsuits for violating copyrights and/or publishing agreements
Therefore, it is beyond the otherwise broad scope of autonomy granted to groups, meetings or districts by the Fourth Tradition to make changes on an individual meeting basis to the Twelve Steps or Twelve Traditions without following the proper procedures for doing so as an entire fellowship, in the Service Manual, Ver. 8.0.