Editor’s note. Elsewhere on Thursday’s edition of National Right to Life News Today, we will also go into great detail to explain the success NRLC enjoyed against the richly-funded, militantly pro-abortion “EMILY’s List.”
Back in May, the Planned Parenthood expressed its intention to spend nearly $30 million to defeat pro-life Donald Trump and to target key Senate races in Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (Huffington Post 5/16/16, additional detail New York Times, 10/7/16).
The “unprecedented” Planned Parenthood Action Fund get out the vote effort was to involve 800 paid canvassers and 3,500 volunteers going door to door targeting millennial voters. As of October 7, Planned Parenthood said they had knocked on a million doors and this was only touted as the beginning (NY Times 10/7/16) .
Tuesday’s results show this effort to be close to an utter failure. Though they were able to elect pro-abortion Democrats to replace retiring pro-abortion Nevada Senator Harry Reid and defeat pro-life GOP Senator Kelly Ayotte, pro-life Republicans won several key Senate races where polls said they were supposed to be in serious jeopardy.
And of course, to top it all off, pro-life President-Elect Donald Trump not only carried the state of North Carolina, widely recognized as a battleground, but also picked up the states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where few thought he had the slightest chance. These states played critical roles in Trump’s successful presidential bid.
In January the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF) endorsed Hillary Clinton, the first time it had ever endorsed a Democrat in the primary season. It noted on its website Clinton “[H]as a long record of working to protect women’s access to safe, legal abortion – and would ensure that abortion remains safe and legal.”
“Planned Parenthood Votes” launched what it called a “Toxic Trump” microsite to post regular stories. There were people who told how “dangerous” they thought Trump was to the “right” to abortion and Planned Parenthood’s massive federal funding (toxictrump.tumblr.com)
The same PPAF site that glowingly promoted Hillary Clinton also featured endorsements of the pro-abortion Democrat Senate candidates in Ohio, Florida, Arizona, and Missouri. In all of those cases, despite tough, well funded opposition, the pro-life candidates carried the day!
The PPAF post mortem on the election was grim but determined.
Today, our Planned Parenthood family, supporters, and patients are waking up to a reality we fought so hard to prevent. Instead of welcoming reproductive health champion Hillary Clinton as our first female president, we saw Donald Trump take the White House.
We now face a very different future, and there is uncertainty ahead. But one thing is for sure: We will never back down, and Planned Parenthood will never stop providing the care patients need.
Planned Parenthood added, “It’s up to us to keep fighting to protect the communities we care about… to make sure that Planned Parenthood health centers will be there wherever and whenever they are needed, no matter what.”
Never ones to miss a fund raising opportunity, the PPAF website then suggests that folks “Chip in to fight back.”
Planned Parenthood spent a lot of money in this election, but it is evident that it lost, and lost badly. Just ask Hillary Clinton .
With a pro-life president and a pro-life Senate and House, it should be much harder for Planned Parenthood to push its agenda. But it would be a mistake to think America’s biggest and richest abortion chain and its most aggressive advocate will simply fade into the woodwork.
They’ve got too much invested in aborting nearly 330,000 babies each and every year.
Enjoy the pro-life victories, but remain vigilant.
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
