Nicole Hunt, an analyst and spokesperson for conservative Christian powerhouse Focus on the Family, argues that the spending gap between pro- and anti-abortion groups is one of the contributing factors to the success of abortion ballot measures this year.
“If we look at how much was raised by abortion activists in all ten states — really looking at it — on Monday, the day before the election, we saw that, collectively, [pro-abortion groups] had raised about $234 million,” she said during an appearance last week on the Jeff and Bill Show. “That’s compared to the pro-life advocates who had raised about $37 million collectively. So big picture — over $200 million difference.”
Colorado is one of seven states that approved a pro-abortion ballot measure this year, joining Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Maryland and New York in protecting access to abortion. Three states rejected their abortion ballot measures — Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota — which Hunt sees as a victory.
“What we saw was that the pro-life community was able to stop the abortion industry in their tracks on Tuesday night,” she said. “They [the “abortion industry”] have had a 100% success record in passing pro-abortion amendments and defeating pro-life amendments. And in three states, the pro-life community was able to defeat abortion amendments.”
There were a variety of factors that contributed to the defeats in those three states. In Florida, 60% of voters must approve an amendment to the state constitution. Florida’s ballot measure received 57% of the vote.
“While we are disappointed that Florida did not reach the 60% threshold, the majority of Floridians voted in favor of abortion access,” said Nourbese Flint, president of abortion advocacy group All* Above All Action Fund, during a media briefing last week. “This is all with a governor who tried every trick in the book and the full weight of his authority and office to deny Floridians abortion care.”
Hunt said the lesson is for states to raise the threshold for ballot initiatives. “If there are red states out there who want to protect their pro-life laws on the books, perhaps you should look at amendment thresholds and consider raising that through your state legislature,” she said. “Another lesson we learned is in Nebraska. So in Nebraska, they had a pro-abortion amendment that was brought forward by the abortion industry. But then the pro-life community decided that they wanted to introduce a competing measure. And what made Nebraska really interesting was that both of those measures made the ballot. And so what was going to happen was if both of those measures got enough votes to move forward, whichever one had the highest number of votes was going to be the one that became the new law of the land. And so in Nebraska, their abortion amendment failed, their pro-life amendment passed.”
Hunt supported the efforts of Right to Know Colorado, an anti-abortion issue committee. “From Right to Know Colorado’s perspective, I do think that there was a massive, massive funding difference,” she said. “Again, I mean, it comes back to funding, but part of what is important is using the finances to educate the public on the impact that these laws are going to have on the people. And so what we know is that the pro-abortion side, they raised, I think it was $9.2 million as of the last filings. And that’s compared to the pro-life side that had about half a million.”
Chaim Goldman, publisher of the Church Voter Guides, is also concerned about the disparity in funding. “I was really surprised how little organization there was from the big pro-life organizations, from all these big ministries,” he said during an election night watch party in Colorado Springs. “In fact, I was calling them and asking, ‘Why are there not millions of dollars?’ We have billions of dollars of ministries here that operate in Colorado Springs. Why are they not putting big money on the table? And I still haven’t gotten an answer. And honestly, I’m embarrassed as a believer. I’m embarrassed how little it got organized and how little was done.”
Right to Know Colorado’s largest supporter was the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, which contributed $225,000 to the issue committee. Archbishop Samuel Aquila made an individual contribution of $10,000, as did lawyer and radio host Dan Caplis.
In addition to Right to Know, the Vote No on 79 issue committee, led by Scott Shamblin of Colorado Right to Life, also worked to oppose Colorado’s ballot measure. Vote No on 79 received $15,000 from Andrew Wommack’s Truth and Liberty Coalition and $1,000 from Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose).
“Overall, I think that the big ministries here could have stepped up easily and put money on the table,” said Goldman. “I haven’t gotten to the bottom of why they didn’t.”
