(LifeSiteNews) — Over the past few days, pro-lifers have been taking stock of the political landscape after the re-election of Donald Trump. As I noted in this space earlier this week, we know what Kamala Harris will not be able to do; we know less about what Trump will or will not do. But politics aside, the past two years have given us a good look at the biggest challenges facing the movement.
First and foremost is the fact that the pro-life movement simply does not have access to the kind of cash that abortion activists do. In fact, when you consider what the pro-life movement was up against, it is incredible that three abortion referendums were beaten considering the nonstop storm of propaganda voters were faced with. Abortion activists have a large network of organizations, big-bag donors like the Gates family and the Soros foundations, and of course, Planned Parenthood’s war chest. The billionaire class overwhelmingly supports the abortion movement, and they do so generously.
While many GOP politicians pivoted on abortion or attempted to avoid discussing it, the Democrats and their associated PACs poured millions into promoting their position. According to Politico, the “combined spending by Democratic candidates and super PACs makes abortion by far the most prevalent topic in Democratic messaging, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact, beating out health care, the economy, and immigration.” The Dems dropped at least $175 million, accounting for over 32% of their total broadcast TV ad spending in 2024.
In many of the state-level referendums, pro-lifers were outspent by a factor of 12 to 1. In Florida, where an attempt to enshrine abortion in the state constitution failed under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, abortion activists spent over $120 million trying to overturn the state’s pro-life laws. Interestingly, one of the few states where pro-lifers managed to roughly match abortion activists in spending—in Nebraska pro-lifers spent $12 million against $13.75 million—pro-lifers succeeded. A number of pro-life leaders have already pointed out that a combination of campaign cash and genuine leadership is key to winning state referendums in the future.
Indeed, one of the heartbreakingly narrow pro-life losses—in Missouri—was in part due to the lack of financial resources. “This is not the result we wanted but despite being outspent by millions of dollars life won in the majority of Missouri counties. Our work to protect the safety of women and the dignity of life continues,” said Stephanie Bell of Missouri Stands with Women. “Life supporters will not sit back and watch as Big Abortion works to dismantle all the health and safety protections put in place to protect women and babies. We will continue to fight and ultimately be victorious against the forces who see no value in life.”
As Secular Pro-Life reported on November 6:
Across the 10 states in total, PL [pro-life] side spent about $25M to PC [pro-choice] side’s $214M. So they spent about 9X what we did. Notably, only in NE and SD did PL spend more than PC: about 10% more in NE, about 60% more in SD. And those were both states we won.
But also notably, PC spent about half their cumulative money ($117M) in FL, over $100M more than PL, and still lost. Overall, in the 7 states where PC won, they outspent PL by an average of 30X (3000%) as much. (This is all based on Ballotpedia’s campaign finance sections for each amendment as of yesterday.)
Frankly given the sheer fortune PC spends, and given the deluge of deception that reaches millions of Americans (Crain, Barnica, Thurman, infant mortality rates, MMR in Texas, etc etc), it’s amazing that they still lose.
The numbers make it clear: Pro-lifers will need financial resources to fight the massive campaigns of the abortion movement in the months and years to come. The good news is that when pro-life campaigns are well-funded and well-led, life-saving victories are possible.
In addition to the problem of financial resources, pro-lifers face the mainstream press. For the past two years, the media has pushed a nonstop series of stories claiming that women are being investigated for murder over miscarriages, dying due to abortion bans, and being denied critical care. As I’ve pointed out over and over again, these stories are not only deceitful—they are frequently the opposite of the truth. But they are powerful, and they have created a narrative that has pushed many Americans to the pro-life side. As Charlie Camosy noted in his election autopsy in First Things this week:
But the results of November 5 give us some reason for hope and optimism. A firehose of abortion disinformation has doused the American people since Dobbs—spurred by huge money, corrupt media, feckless politicians, and compromised medical and academic communities that don’t permit meaningful dissent. The result of this has been—let’s face it—a massive, cultural-shifting marvel. But, on the other hand, an entire campaign that tried to build itself around this pro-abortion energy failed spectacularly. The population cannot be more misinformed about abortion than it is right now—and still about four in ten Americans identify as pro-life.
That is what we must build on. As Camosy also noted, “we must re-teach the culture in part by prudently, respectfully, but unapologetically employing victim imagery” in order to “subvert our throwaway culture’s attempt to hide the reality of abortion.” He’s entirely right. The abortion movement has more money. We have the truth.
