'Our largest ground game yet': Pro-life group to spend nearly $100M in 2024
A national pro-life advocacy organization aims to spend nearly $100 million and knock on over 4 million doors ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the outcome of which could have major implications for the future of abortion policy in the United States.
In a statement Thursday, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America announced it will collaborate with its partner organization Women Speak Out PAC to "spend $92 million and reach 10 million voters to protect life across America." The figure exceeds the $56 million spent in the 2020 election cycle and the $78 million the group pledged to spend during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
The campaign's hundreds of thousands of volunteers will canvas in eight battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
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"Life is the human rights issue of our time and the pivotal issue in 2024 elections," said Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "Pro-abortion Democrats have declared they are going all in on abortion on demand through all nine months, as their number one campaign issue. Already, they're spending unprecedented sums to mislead voters on their stance. Many Democrats now explicitly say they want to 'Go Beyond Roe' because it wasn't enough."
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, returning power to regulate abortion laws to the states, two dozen states have implemented laws restricting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy or earlier. On the other hand, voters in California, Michigan, Vermont and Ohio have approved ballot measures establishing a right to abortion in their respective state constitutions.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Vice President of Communications Emily Erin Davis warned that Democrats could easily pass legislation to expand abortion rights established in the Supreme Court's Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions if they win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and presidency.
"They could easily push through their so-called Women's Health Protection Act, which goes even further than Roe and, as we recognize, has a lot of terrible things that strip away personal freedoms, not to mention no limits or protections for the child in the womb," Davis said.
While the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women's Health Protection Act multiple times in the 117th U.S. Congress, it failed to achieve the necessary support in the U.S. Senate. The legislation has not come up for a vote since the Republicans retook control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2023.
On the other hand, if Republicans win both chambers of Congress and the presidency, Davis hopes lawmakers will "look at the fact that the U.S. is a global outlier" as one of only seven nations that allow abortions after 20 weeks gestation.
As Republican presidential candidates debated the idea of pushing for a federal abortion restriction, Davis indicated a desire for the implementation of "national protections ... particularly when they can feel the pain of that abortion as science proves."
She insists a strong ground game for the pro-life movement is necessary to reverse the setbacks experienced due to the passage of state constitutional amendments establishing a right to abortion.
The campaign will focus on "persuadable voters, but particularly the pro-life voters." After doing an audit of the various elections and ballots, Davis said the organization "recognized that pro-life voters are not getting out at the volume that they need to combat this."
"We really need to be talking to those pro-life voters and activating them to vote their values," she said.
Davis said the SBA Pro-Life America field team is "really robust," praising them as "one of the reasons why candidates love SBA because we move the needle on the ground in these key states."
"[They are] the jewel in the crown of what we can offer candidates and how we can fight for life," she said of the field team.
The volunteers Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America plans to rely on for its canvassing efforts include 500,000 college students who will be deployed on weekends, during school breaks and over the summer.
She said field team members are also encountering people who have never heard "a positive pro-life message" while door-knocking.
"We've got to get out there, and we've got to talk to people, and we do see positive effects from that," she added.
In addition to the door-knocking campaign, the campaign spending will include digital communications and communications via mail, text messaging and TV ads. The pro-life group also hopes to talk to "every single candidate" to ensure that candidates "speak about" the issue.
Davis doesn't believe candidates can "hide" from the abortion issue, lamenting that "we saw the lessons from that in the … 2022 midterms … and that was devastating to the pro-life cause."
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has long maintained that a failure to articulate a clear position on abortion cost several pro-life candidates their races in the 2022 midterm elections, the first national elections to take place after the Dobbs decision.
Dannenfelser urges candidates to "go on the offense" and "communicate the 'three Cs.'"
"They must be clear about their support against painful late-term abortions, they must have compassion for women facing unplanned pregnancies and they must contrast by exposing their [opponents'] extreme stance of pushing unlimited taxpayer-funded abortions on demand," Dannenfesler said.
"This election cycle will be our largest ground game yet as we will focus on key battleground states to win a pro-life Senate and elect a National Defender of Life as president," she added. "We will take no voter for granted, whether they are pro-life and don't vote consistently or can be persuaded to vote pro-life when they hear how radical the Democrats have become. We must not grow weary in our pursuit to serve mothers and save children."
The states targeted as part of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's campaign will all have at least one competitive federal race on the ballot this year. Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are expected to have competitive presidential and U.S. Senate races. Georgia and North Carolina will likely feature competitive presidential contests, but neither state has a U.S. Senate seat up for re-election this year.
While Republicans are expected to win the presidential contests in Montana and Ohio, both states will have Senate contests that may determine control of the U.S. Senate. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's Candidate Fund has endorsed Republican Tim Sheehy in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.
Democrats currently control 51 seats in the upper chamber, while Republicans control 49. Republicans are expected to pick up an open Senate seat currently held by Democrats in West Virginia. Winning that race and holding all of their own seats would bring Republicans to 50 Senate seats, which would only be enough for a Senate majority if Republicans win the 2024 presidential election.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
