Ignoring reality: NYT and other pro-abortion outlets gloat over pro-life losses

The NY Times has this editorial titled, “Voting for Reproductive Freedom.”  It gloats over pro-life losses in California, Colorado, and South Dakota. It begins : “Voters in three states did the right thing last week by defeating dangerous anti-abortion measures on their ballots.” And ends:  ”. . . the fate of the three ballot initiatives is a powerful affirmation that this remains a nation that values women’s privacy and health.” This conclusion ignores reality. 

In Colorado (personhood amendment) and South Dakota (measure to outlaw most abortions), pro-lifers were divided over the measures on strategic grounds. Medical News adds some context: Fractures Within Antiabortion Movement Helped Doom Ballot Initiatives.  See also, Colorado Catholic Conference Does Not Support Personhood Amendment.

In California (parental notification measure), it was a common sense measure that most reasonable people would expect to win.  But then again, California is not known as a bastion for the pro-life cause and pro-abortion groups heavily outspent their opponents in this contest. 

The San Francisco Chronicle: “Nearly $11 million was collected for the campaign, according to the most recent campaign filing statements. Proponents raised almost $2.6 million – spending much of the money gathering petitions to get the measure on the ballot – while opponents collected approximately $8.2 million.”

In Washington (assisted suicide measure), pro-lifers were also heavily outspent in a left coast state. The WSJ Health Blog reports:  ”Backers of the bill, including national right-to-die organizations and a former Democratic governor who has Parkinson’s, raised $4.9 million to support it. Opponents, including several Catholic organizations, raised $1.6 million to fund their fight, the Seattle Times reports.”

Moral to this story: Pro-lifers must be united and they must be competitive in fundraising.  When those criteria are satisifed the pro-life cause can prevail even on the left coast as the California marriage amendment [Prop. 8] victory demonstrates.

Related: South Dakota Pro-Life Advocate Ready for Next Battle After Abortion Ban Loss
“‘We were outspent by more than three to one,’ Unruh said. Our opponents raised over $3 million dollars and just a very minimal amount of that came from South Dakota”