Anti-abortion side has raised and spent more in ballot question campaign
By: Makenzie Huber,
SD Searchlight
Anti-abortion groups have out-fundraised and outspent abortion-rights advocates in the campaign for South Dakota’s Nov. 5 abortion ballot measure, even with a last-minute infusion to the abortion-rights side from a national group.
Three major anti-abortion ballot question committees raised a combined $1.7 million since May, while the main abortion-rights committee raised about $840,000, according to campaign finance reports filed this week with the Secretary of State’s Office.
On the abortion-rights side, the figure includes $500,000 contributed Tuesday by Think Big America, an issue-advocacy nonprofit launched last year by Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker with a focus on supporting abortion rights. The nonprofit also contributed $40,000 on Monday.
The organization is a 501(c)(4), which are nonprofits sometimes described as “dark money” groups because they’re allowed to engage in political campaigns and don’t have to publicly disclose their donors. When Pritzker formed the organization last year, he told Politico that he was the sole funder, and the media outlet said his team “declined to say if it would make subsequent donors public.”
The anti-abortion committees had spent $1.2 million on advertising as of the time of their reports, while proponents had spent $195,683, although the proponents’ main report was filed before a supplemental report revealing the $500,000 contribution.
“$1 million is a lot of money for a ballot issue campaign in South Dakota,” said Michael Card, associate professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Dakota.
There are no limits on contributions to ballot question committees in South Dakota.
Abortion is currently banned in the state, with one exception for abortions necessary to save the life of the mother. Amendment G would legalize abortion while allowing for restrictions in the second trimester of pregnancy and a ban in the third trimester, with mandatory exceptions to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman.
David Wiltse, South Dakota State political science professor, said he isn’t surprised by the fundraising and spending disparity.
Abortion measures have passed in each state they’ve been put to a public vote since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and voters have rejected every measure that would have restricted access. Wiltse said the lack of proponent fundraising is a “sign of confidence” they don’t have to “convert” many voters.
“The ‘No’ side needs to spend more since they are working against the national trend here,” Wiltse said in an emailed statement. “While I wouldn’t say the backers of this amendment have a lock on this, they certainly have the prevailing winds in their favor.”
According to a recent South Dakota News Watch and Chiesman Center for Democracy poll of 500 registered South Dakota voters, 49.8% said they support the abortion measure. About 46.8% of respondents said they opposed the measure, with the remainder undecided.
South Dakota is one of ten states with an abortion question on the ballot this election.
Catholic groups play large role
No G for SD, a month-old ballot question committee formed to oppose the amendment, raised more than $1 million, including $340,000 from Catholic organizations and officials.
The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, contributed $200,000. The Catholic Chancery Office in Sioux Falls donated $140,000. The chancery funds come largely from parishioner donations, and the bishop consults with church organizations, which include parishioners, before making such donations.
The bishop of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, Donald DeGrood, donated $2,500 of his own funds.
Chris Motz, chief of staff and general counsel for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, said the diocese “felt a duty to educate and inform” about the dangers of the amendment.
“We’d count unborn children and women with difficult pregnancies among those to whom we have a duty of care and compassion,” Motz said. “Our contributions are meant to give them a voice.”
The Catholic Church has long opposed abortion, and is one of the largest entities bankrolling campaigns against abortion rights in states where it’s on the ballot.
In Kansas’ 2022 election, the Catholic Church donated nearly $3.7 million toward efforts opposed to the ballot question; and in Ohio in 2023, Catholic bishops gave $1.7 million to a political action committee to fight a similar ballot measure. No abortion-rights ballot measure has lost since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal constitutional right to an abortion in 2022. South Dakota’s measure is one of 10 on the ballot Nov. 5.
Opponent spending
Another notable donor to No G for SD is Tammie Broin, vice chairwoman and co-founder of Sioux Falls-based biofuels producer POET, who contributed $100,000.
Donations largely went toward advertising, which included billboard advertisements, and television and radio commercials across South Dakota — such as a $26,750 commercial campaign on KELO and $43,645 for commercials on Dakota News Now’s KDLT and KSFY stations, according to Federal Communications Commission reports.
Two other anti-abortion ballot question committees are Life Defense Fund, which reported raising $587,743, and Celebrate Life Committee, which reported raising $25,000.
Life Defense Fund is chaired by state Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, who shared the group’s campaign finance report with South Dakota Searchlight (the Secretary of State’s Office had not posted the report to its website as of Thursday afternoon). The Life Defense Fund is also challenging Amendment G in a lawsuit that’s not scheduled for trial until after the election.
Some notable donations to the ballot question committee include:
• $50,000 from Colleen and Glenn Ridder, a family physician and medical director of Sioux Falls-based pregnancy help center, the Alpha Center.
• $50,000 from Greg Schweiss, president of the Western South Dakota Catholic Foundation.
• $50,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, and thousands more donated from Catholic churches and organizations throughout the state.
• More than $45,000 in combined donations from South Dakota Right to Life — not including donations from local chapters, such as Sioux Falls Right to Life’s $10,000 donation.
• $25,000 from Prestige Auto Sales in Spearfish.
Bishop DeGrood also donated $2,500 of his own funds to the ballot question committee.
Celebrate Life Committee, chaired by Daktronics Inc. founder Al Kurtenbach, received a $5,000 donation from him and another $20,000 from Frank Kurtenbach, his brother and former vice president of the company. The committee spent almost all of its money on billboard advertisements.
Card said the spending by anti-abortion committees is only a piece of the campaign across the state: Parishioners may hear opposition campaigning at church or read it in church bulletins.
“My wife and I attend Catholic church in Vermillion, where there is a message in the bulletin at each service, along with a mention in every sermon or homily to vote no,” Card said.
Proponent funding
Card said proponents hadn’t achieved the same level of messaging.
“Proponents of Amendment G don’t have that bully pulpit and may not have the resources to give for their side. And if they do, it’s apparent they’re not giving it,” Card said.
His comments came before notice of the $500,000 Think Big America contribution appeared on the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota and Planned Parenthood North Central States, both part of national organizations that support reproductive rights, do not support the ballot measure and have not donated money to the campaign. A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood told South Dakota Searchlight last year that the organization isn’t supporting the measure because “we don’t believe it will adequately reinstate the right to abortion in South Dakota.”
Dakotans for Health, the committee that circulated petitions to put Amendment G on the ballot, spent most of its $298,392 — the amount it had raised prior to the Think Big America infusion — on advertising. Dakotans for Health is also campaigning for the passage of Initiated Measure 28, which the group intends as a removal of state sales taxes on groceries.
Dakotans for Health Chair Rick Weiland said the organization still feels “really good about our chances” on the abortion-rights measure despite being outspent.
“When push comes to shove, people are going to opt for freedom in their decisions, not this radical abortion ban governing their decisions for the last two years,” Weiland said.
Besides the contributions from Think Big America, the committee’s largest contributions included:
• $100,000 from Michelle Locher, a Florida resident who also donated $1 million to a political action committee supporting Florida’s proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights.
• $10,000 from Jim Conyngham, of Austin, Texas.
• $10,000 from Barb Christianson, a Rapid City resident.
• $5,000 from Tom Daschle, a Democrat who formerly represented South Dakota in the U.S. Senate.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated on Oct. 25, 2024, with information from supplemental campaign finance reports posted to the Secretary of State’s website after the story’s initial publication.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
