It takes money, leadership, clarity and flexibility for pro-lifers to win a state abortion referendum, pro-life advocates told the Register in the wake of victories in three states on Election Day.

The pro-life side won in statewide referendums Nov. 5 in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota. The pro-abortion side won in seven other states: Colorado, Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York.

Coming into the November 2024 election, the pro-life side had lost all seven previous statewide referendums since the U.S. Supreme Court returned abortion law to the states: in Kansas (August 2022), Kentucky (November 2022), California (November 2022), Vermont (November 2022), Montana (November 2022), Michigan (November 2022) and Ohio (November 2023).

In baseball terms, that makes pro-lifers three for 17 since June 2022, a batting average of .176.

But that’s infinitely higher than zero.

“I think people in general were surprised at the mixed results. The three victories put the country on notice that the pro-life movement remains strong; we will continue to fight for the babies and to provide support for their mothers,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, told the Register.

“I think it was very important because it shows that this can still be a winning issue. The cause for life is not lost, and we need to continue fighting,” said Erica Steinmiller-Perdomo, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. “It’s just a testament to: If we persevere on this issue, if we don’t back down and are courageous on this issue, we can gain ground.”

Money

How did it happen?

Tobias said pro-lifers have learned from past defeats.

“We have a better idea of how to combat the false information pushed by the other side and are able to bring pro-life stories into the debate,” Tobias said. “We also had funds, more and earlier, than in previous contests.”

While the pro-abortion side usually vastly outspends the pro-life side, the money situation was almost even in Nebraska: $13.75 million on the pro-abortion side versus $12 million on the pro-life side, according to Nebraska Examiner.

Big donors and early fundraising helped pro-lifers keep pace in Nebraska, said Matt Heffron, senior counsel of the Thomas More Society, a conservative public interest law firm that opposes abortion.

Another advantage for pro-lifers in Nebraska was being able to stump for a pro-life referendum instead of just against a pro-abortion referendum. Nebraska voters had two measures to pick from: a pro-abortion measure that would have established a right to abortion through viability, meaning the time an unborn baby can live outside its mother, which is typically set at about 24 weeks, and a pro-life measure that bans abortion in the second and third trimesters except in cases of rape or incest and leaves abortion policy in the first trimester to the state Legislature.

The Nebraska pro-life measure (Initiative Measure 434) passed, 55% to 45%; while the pro-abortion measure (Initiative Measure 439) failed, 48.5% (for) to 51.5% (against).

“The first obvious lesson is that Nebraska is the first and only state that has established a competing initiative versus the pro-abortion initiative. And at least in Nebraska it worked,” Heffron said. “It helps to be able to go on the offense somewhat.”

The flexible approach was also key in Nebraska, Heffron said, though he noted it drew some opposition from some pro-lifers who think the abortion restrictions don’t go far enough.

To succeed, a pro-life abortion referendum needs to appeal to voters who don’t want to ban abortion outright, Heffron said.

He noted that polls throughout the country consistently show that most Americans support access to abortion at some level but also oppose late-term abortion.

“So the only way that the abortion industry can get that in, to establish that, is by these deceptive initiatives. But they prey on those voters who want a little bit of abortion, although not a lot of abortion,” Heffron said.

 

Leadership

In Florida, a measure to overturn a current six-week ban on abortions failed because a proposed constitutional amendment fell shy of the 60% majority needed, even though a majority of voters (57% to 43%) supported it.

Steinmiller-Perdomo, of Alliance Defending Freedom, credited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying that he “mobilized a lot of efforts to preserve life.”

“Gov. DeSantis, he was really strong in Florida, and I think that led them to that path of victory,” she said.

The other pro-life victory was in South Dakota, where voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would have created a right to abortion by a margin of 57% to 43%, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State.

The closest result on Nov. 5 was in Missouri, where a pro-abortion constitutional amendment passed 51.6% to 48.4%, according to the Missouri Secretary of State.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which supports abortion, called the Missouri result an “epic victory,” because Missouri is the first state with a near-total ban on abortion enacted by a legislature that has subsequently enshrined abortion as a right in its state Constitution.

Bridget VanMeans, president of ThriVe Nation, a pro-life organization based in St. Louis that operates 11 pregnancy centers in five states and a pro-life telehealth service, called the result in Missouri “a devastating blow for life-affirming citizens in our state and really in the nation because every child that’s lost has an impact, as that butterfly effect that we know goes well beyond even the borders of Missouri.”

But she said while the law is important, pro-lifers have to deal with the reality that abortion pills are becoming easier to get, even in pro-life states. She said abortion supporters have “pretty much a goal that every girl is going to eventually have that abortion pill, probably in her medicine cabinet.”

“There’s no doubt, if I’m speaking plainly, that we are going to have to invent, reinvent, reconsider and revise our strategy. The abortion-pill effectiveness is galloping, in terms of the numbers of girls that are using that strategy,” VanMeans said.

She said pro-lifers need to offer what she called “innovative responses to unplanned pregnancies,” adding that they shouldn’t abandon standing up for sexual morality.

“Let’s also look at culture. Let’s look at spiritual revival. Pastors have got to teach God’s plan for sexuality more boldly; God’s plan for the imago Dei — God’s image — more boldly. And we need to impact the culture, in terms of why so many babies are being conceived that are not wanted and treated like trash,” VanMeans said.

“So the further upstream we can go to make an impact, God’s plan is written on our hearts: his plan for sexuality, his plan for pregnancy, his plan for family; you know, we’re made in his image. It is written on our hearts,” she said. “And we’re going to have to, I think, hit this on both ends.”