Despite the Democratic Party’s best efforts to turn abortion into a top campaign issue ahead of 2024, new reports suggest that donations fueled by a pro-abortion sentiment have begun to shrink.
As The Hill reports, left-wing organizations have been seeking donations in the aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the historic Supreme Court ruling in June of 2022 which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the question of abortion back to the individual states. Such donations were allegedly intended to help cover expenses for abortions for women in states where abortion is restricted or outlawed.
However, several groups have been forced to reduce their own operations, or even stop their work altogether, due to donations drying up.
One such group, the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), recorded spending $37 million between July 1st, 2022, and June 30th, 2023, giving the money to 103,000 during that period of time to cover abortion costs. This marked a 33% increase in spending compared to the same time period in the previous year.
However, the group’s spending has shrunk significantly due to a decrease in donations since then, which has been attributed to the issue fading from the headlines as other political issues have risen to dominate the media coverage.
“We noticed with any sort of moment that happens, whether it is a certain election, an introduction of an abortion ban, or in this case, the overturning of Roe, there is this immediate desire to like, make a contribution to abortion funds or make contributions to the movement,” said Oriaku Njoku, executive director of NNAF. “While we appreciate the rage, giving what is actually required to make sure that people can consistently get the care they need is that long-term investment in abortion funds.”
In the immediate aftermath of Dobbs, “everyone was very mad, because it was in the headlines,” said Bree Wallace, director of case management for the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund (TBAF). “Things were changing pretty rapidly for people. So people were of course mad and they were giving a lot. And then a few months after that, it kind of died off.”
Wallace said that while the TBAF spent approximately $700,000 in 2023, the group “definitely couldn’t do that again this year,” as donations plunged by 63% from 2022 to 2023. What used to be a statewide operation has been forced to reduce its scale to just the Tampa Bay area due to the decrease in its overall budget.
These trends suggest that abortion has outlived its usefulness as a top campaign issue for Democrats, who weaponized the Dobbs decision in 2022 and have attempted to replicate the strategy in the 2024 presidential election.
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