With abortion rights on up to nearly a quarter of state ballots this November, many groups are worried that funding is too tight to campaign successfully in all of them.
In ultra-conservative states such as Arkansas and South Dakota, even large-scale national donors are slim. Because of how conservative the states are, donors said they were focusing on states where legislation could actually be passed and went at least as far as Roe v. Wade.
“Our motto is, ‘No steps backwards,’” Beth Huang, the civic engagement and democracy program officer for the Tides Foundation, told Politico. “Roe is the floor, and we are prioritizing measures that reestablish the floor. We don’t want to support policies that enable backsliding.”
In both Arkansas and South Dakota, there are near-total abortion bans in place.
Abortion-rights groups in Arkansas, though, are hoping to change the ban to after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But Gennie Diaz, who is leading the Arkansas ballot campaign, said without seven-figure support, she does not expect her campaign to win in November.
“No one’s coming to save us,” Diaz said. “We don’t begrudge any group for having a nuanced strategic plan that we don’t necessarily fit into. … But if we do not receive the funding to run a robust statewide campaign, the consequence will be that women will die in this state. We need that funding so we can restore access and prevent that from happening.”
The organizations are largely focused on swing states such as Arizona and Nevada. Arizona has brought in more than $5 million for its abortion effort.
Donors have also considered the abortion-rights polling numbers when it comes to where they put their money. For example, abortion does not poll well in Nebraska, so donors have stayed away from there. But it does poll well in Missouri, where there’s a near-total abortion ban.
“You didn’t see me talking about Missouri six months ago,” Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, an abortion-rights group, said. “But you do now.”
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The abortion-rights donors said they expect to reevaluate where they donate throughout the next nine months. Right now, many abortion campaigns in key swing states need to gather enough signatures on their petitions to get an abortion measure on the November ballot or cross certain legal thresholds to qualify.
Abortion was a major topic in the 2022 midterm elections, and it was one of the major reasons the predicted “red wave” failed to appear after many Republicans failed to address abortion rights adequately for voters. Some abortion-rights activists and lawmakers are also seeking a national movement to codify abortion in the Constitution.
