Pro-abortion groups are raising nearly eight times as much as pro-life groups for abortion measures that will appear on ballots in November in nearly a dozen states.
Campaign finance data compiled by watchdog group Open Secrets and reported on by the Associated Press (AP) shows that abortion amendment backers have raised nearly $108 million compared to $14 million by pro-life opponents.
Abortion-related measures are appearing on the ballot in ten states. In nine of those states, the measures would enshrine a right to abortion into state constitutions in some capacity, with some allowing abortion throughout pregnancy. In New York, the ballot measure would outlaw discrimination related to “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” among other things.
Campaigns for or against the measures typically raise money to reach voters with TV, radio, and digital ads, along with mailers, yard-signs, and door-knocking, and more of an advantage with deeper pockets.
“That’s evident so far in Missouri and Montana, where big funding advantages have translated into far more ad buys, according to data collected by the media tracking firm AdImpact,” the report reads.
Data shows abortion groups have raised more than $5 million in contributions in Missouri, including $1 million from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to the report. Abortion groups have spent more than $11 million on ads supporting the ballot measure as a result, with pro-life groups spending less than $50,000 opposing it, the report continues.
In Montana, pro-abortion groups have outraised pro-lifers $11.8 million to $105,000, data shows.
“There hasn’t been as much ad activity so far in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada or South Dakota. In Nebraska, abortion opponents have raised slightly less money but have spent slightly more on ad buys. Contribution totals don’t have to be reported in Nevada or South Dakota until later this month,” according to the report.
Abortion groups are spending a lot of money to prop up an abortion amendment in Florida and have reported raising more than $60 million compared to $9 million from pro-life groups.
Abortion giant Planned Parenthood Federation of America and some of its regional affiliates have given more than $1 million to support the amendments, according to the report. The biggest donor is Marsah Zlatin Laufer, who often contributes to leftist causes. She has given more than $9 million in Florida to support the pro-abortion side, the report continues.
Left-wing dark money groups are also propping up the abortion amendments, much like they did for previous abortion measurements. Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty Fund, a D.C.-based dark money group, has given more than $1 million in several states, as has The Fairness Project, Advocacy Action Fund, and the George Soros-connected Open Society Action Fund.
Nationally, the pro-abortion side has seen more donors, 94,000 to 2,600, the report states.
When the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision on June 24, 2022, it overturned Roe v. Wade, which had invented a federal right to abortion for 50 years. The Dobbs decision thus returned the issue of abortion to individual states and their elected representatives, changing the nature of the struggle between the pro-life movement and the abortion industry.
Pro-abortion organizations and activists have stealthily turned to ballot measures in the hopes of shoring up the growing abortion complex in the shift from federal to state power.
Ballot measures are particularly effective as an offensive weapon because they are basically irreversible: they change a state constitution, take precedence over laws passed by state legislatures, and can only be overturned by another ballot measure. The measures are typically propped up by left-wing organizations and affiliates with deep pockets — such as Planned Parenthood and the ACLU — out-of-state dark money groups and billionaires with eugenicist leanings, oftentimes outspending pro-life organizations by double or triple.
Every single pro-abortion-related ballot measure since the fall of Roe has been successful. During the 2022 special elections, Kansans rejected a ballot measure that would have established that the state Constitution does not include a right to abortion. During the 2022 midterms, voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont codified abortion into their Constitutions. At the same time, voters in Montana rejected a ballot measure that would have given rights to babies born alive in botched abortions. Voters in Kentucky also rejected an amendment similar to the one in Kansas. Last November, Ohioans also voted to codify the supposed right to abortion in their state Constitution via Issue 1.
State by state, Republicans have been working to protect the unborn, while Democrats have expanded abortion nationwide via shield laws, telehealth, and tens of millions of dollars spent establishing their states as abortion havens. Last year saw the highest number and rate of abortions measured in the United States — there were an estimated 1,026,690 unborn babies killed in abortions in the formal U.S. health care system and a rate of 15.7 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, according to a report from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. That number is a ten percent increase in abortions from 2020.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.