![]() ![]() The next highest anti-abortion spender, the National Right to Life Committee, spent just $80,000 on federal lobbying last quarter, down from the six-figure sums it routinely dropped during the Obama administration and during the confirmation battle for now-Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. During the 2020 cycle, OpenSecrets data shows, the group doled out around $16 million on political spending. Anthony List, reported dropping $290,000 into lobbying in the first quarter of 2022, its highest quarterly total ever. Data from OpenSecrets also shows that anti-abortion backers approached an all-time high in lobbying spending last year, topping $1 million for the fifth straight year. That’s more than double their collective political expenditures during the 2020 cycle, according to data from OpenSecrets. ![]() Abortion rights advocates spend significantly more on influence efforts like grassroots activation and campaigns - just Monday, Planned Parenthood, NARAL and EMILY’s List announced plans to collectively pour $150 million into organizing and advertising efforts ahead of November’s midterms, an acknowledgment of how the Supreme Court is likely to formally rule this summer and in the wake of Republican legislatures across the country significantly curtailing abortion access. Of the main abortion rights groups and major anti-abortion groups, only Planned Parenthood retains outside lobbyists. Abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America spent just $110,000 on lobbying at the federal level last year, disclosures show. The Center for Reproductive Rights, another one of the top abortion rights groups, reported spending $370,000 to lobby Washington in 2021, all of which was done in-house. Planned Parenthood’s national arm reported spending just over $100,000 on lobbying last quarter, and more than $800,000 in all of 2021, with another $243,000 in spending by several subsidiaries. Still, while abortion rights is among the most contentious political issues in the country, abortion does not attract nearly the level of lobbying expenditures as tech, pharma or financial services firms - some of which retain dozens of lobbying shops and spend millions to influence lawmakers each quarter - according to lobbying disclosures. While some policymakers immediately revved into action promising to vote on legislation to codify Roe, which does not have the votes to pass the Senate, there could be an increased focus on lobbying around other reproductive health policies, like access to contraceptives, federal family planning funding or funding to fight STDs, they said. Lobbyists working on abortion rights issues told PI today that they were largely unsurprised by the vote count even if the publication of the draft opinion caught groups somewhat off guard. Wade decision reverberated immediately across the country as lawmakers and advocacy groups either praised the initial ruling or lambasted it. SURVEYING THE ABORTION LOBBYING LANDSCAPE: Monday night’s bombshell publication by my colleagues Josh Gerstein and Alex Ward of a draft majority opinion that would strike down the landmark Roe v. ![]()
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