Students for Life Action (SFLAction) has long discussed the David vs. Goliath nature of protecting preborn life in law and in service, especially considering the multi-billion-dollar adversary to LIFE found in Planned Parenthood and company. It’s not lost on us that abortion predators who take millions of taxpayer resources each year and charge for ending life have a lot of cash on hand in an election cycle.
Nothing will illustrate that point more tangibly than the spending figures on the 2024 election on abortion and abortion-support candidates and ballot initiative campaigns so far.
A great deal has also been made about how much Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for President has raised: over $1.5 billion to date, according to opensecrets.org. Former President Donald Trump, on the other hand, is coming in just slightly over $1 billion.
A separate report at Open Secrets notes that “2024’s federal election cycle is on track to be the costliest ever, with a total cost of at least $15.9 billion in spending. This will surpass the 2020 cycle’s record-smashing total of $15.1 billion.”
Outside and special spending from Political Action Committees (PACs) and other interest groups have spent over $2.5 billion, again beating previous records. At this current rate, according to Open Secrets, it will exceed $5 billion.
Yet, the polling shows it’s a neck and neck race, and some pollsters are even giving Trump the edge. It goes to show that money can’t buy everything – least of all the votes from a disaffected and angry populace that is suffering under this economy and who loath late-term abortion and infanticide.
READ: The Democrats Are Gambling Everything on Abortion Ballot Initiatives – That Could Backfire
On the topic of special election spending, let’s take a look at the abortion ballot initiatives, which are both a get-out-the-vote effort for the abortion-supporting Democratic Party as well as an effort to get mini-Roes in state constitutions for abortion without limits, Planned Parenthood’s cash cow.
According to data collected by Ballotpedia, “Per the latest campaign finance reports, the pro-choice PACs raised $111.7 million and spent $69.1 million, while pro-life PACs raised $10.4 million and spent $4.93 million. In total, the pro-choice PACs raised 10.7 times more than pro-life PACs while reporting 14 times more in expenditures.”
The abortion industry’s abundance of advertising money, created an uphill battle for the pro-life movement. Earlier this year, the House Democratic PAC launched a $100 million effort on abortion rights, and a Democratic group launched a $25 million effort to target Trump on abortion.
Broken down by the state ballot initiatives for spending, according to the most recent available data from Ballotpedia, it looks like:
Arizona:
- Pro-Abortion: $23.1 million raised, $13.4 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $866,335 raised, and $473,733 spent.
Colorado
- Pro-Abortion: $8 million raised, $5.8 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $140,979 raised, and $27,157 spent.
Florida
- Pro-Abortion: $51.45 million raised, $28.9 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $5.3 million raised, and $883,374 spent.
Maryland
- Pro-Abortion: $568,361 raised, $272,534 spent.
- Pro-Life: $82,817 raised, and $42,493 spent.
Missouri
- Pro-Abortion: $5.6 million raised, $3.9 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $198,089 raised, and $182,631 spent.
Montana
- Pro-Abortion: $11.8 million raised, $8 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $27,539 raised, and $25,966 spent.
Nebraska
- Pro-Abortion: $3.7 million raised, $3 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $3.1 million raised, and $2.7 million spent.
Nevada
- Pro-Abortion: $4.7 million raised, $3.8 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $4.7 million raised, and $3.8 million spent.
*It’s possible this data point was presented in error by Ballotpedia.
New York
- Pro-Abortion: $2.7 million raised, $1.9 million spent.
- Pro-Life: $274,834 raised, and $241,942 spent.
South Dakota
- Pro-Abortion: $349,273 raised, $308,945 spent.
- Pro-Life: $366,740 raised, and $318,300 spent.
So, does being outspent mean an automatic victory for abortion supporters? Not necessarily.
Polling shows that several key pro-abortion ballot initiatives are likely to be beaten. According to polling from The Hill, “Florida requires an unusually high threshold of 60 percent of voters to approve a ballot measure, and the poll showed the measure falling short with 54 percent.”
Likewise, in South Dakota, polls show that the pro-abortion ballot measure there is falling short: “Forty-eight percent of the respondents said they would vote no on G while 45% said they would vote yes. Seven percent are undecided.”
Even Missouri is running close on the issue with a recent poll showing support for the abortion measure is only inside the margin of error.
Regardless, the abortion industry makes a LOT of money from abortion for them to be able to throw this much cash at the issue.
Taxpayers have to foot the bill for some of that. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in 2023, Planned Parenthood received over $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds from 2019 to 2021.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FUNDS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN AWAY TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD AND OTHER ABORTION GIANTS,
READ: Blood Money: Our Federal Tax Dollars Support Abortion
When we say we ask for prayer and fasting, it’s because it might be all the pro-life movement can afford. Jokes aside, people of faith getting involved and using their energy and time to help us defeat these well-funded juggernauts is a major force multiplier.