Planned Parenthood reportedly plans to spend $40 million in the months leading up to the November election to support President Joe Biden and other Democrats, less than the organization has spent the last two election cycles despite an expected increase in voter turnout for the first presidential election since the right to an abortion was eliminated by the Supreme Court.
Pro-choice demonstrators gather in front of the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday, May ... [+]
The nonprofit, which provides reproductive healthcare to women in all 50 states, told the Associated Press ahead of a formal announcement planned for Monday that it will spend the $40 million on canvassing programs, phone banking and advertising campaigns.
The sum is less than the record-breaking $50 million it spent in 2022 and the $45 million it spent in 2020—Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment Monday asking why the spending has been reduced.
The group said it will target voters in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire and New York.
In addition to supporting Biden in key battleground states, the money will be spent on securing Democratic victories for Congressional candidates and in some down-ballot races, like those for seats in the Nevada and Arizona statehouses, the AP reported.
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“Abortion will be the message of this election, and it will be how we energize voters,” Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, told the AP. “It will be what enables us to win.”
An anti-abortion group called SBA Pro-Life America has pledged to spend more than double what Planned Parenthood has announced. The group in February said it will spend $92 million to "protect life across America" and plans to campaign in the same states as Planned Parenthood with two exceptions: SBA Pro-Life America plans to canvas in Michigan and Ohio, rather than New York and North Carolina.
The Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the nearly 50-year-old decision made in Roe v. Wade that codified the right to abortion across the country. Soon after, states began imposing their own anti-abortion laws that banned or severely limited access to the procedure in places like Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Oklahoma and beyond. Other states, like Massachusetts, Colorado and California, passed their own laws making access to abortion a constitutional right. President Joe Biden has promised to reinstate the protections first afforded in Roe v. Wade if elected—a goal that would require beating several legal obstacles and Democrats winning control of Congress. His opponent, former President Donald Trump, has taken credit for the overturning of Roe and said he plans to leave abortion access up to the states.
In the first presidential election since Roe v. Wade was overturned, voters are counting stances on abortion as more important than ever when it comes to who they’ll choose to lead. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that one in eight voters said abortion was the most important issue driving their vote, and a Gallup poll found that 32% of voters said they'd only vote for a candidate who has shared his or her views on abortion. That is higher than voters who said the same in 2020. The same poll found that pro-abortion candidates stand to benefit more when it comes to single issue voters—40% of voters who favor abortion access said they would only vote for a candidate who agrees with them on the issue, as opposed to 22% of anti-abortion voters.
- That's how many states will have abortion ballot referendums this year: New York, South Dakota, Colorado, Maryland and Florida. In Florida, Colorado, South Dakota and Maryland, the initiatives would provide protections for abortion in the states. In New York, it would make it illegal to discriminate against people based on their reproductive choices. Groups in Arizona, Montana, Missouri and Arkansas are also gathering or have submitted signatures in hopes of putting abortion on the ballot this year.