$2.5M pro-life ad campaign launched ahead of Supreme Court abortion arguments
A pro-life grassroots organization has launched a $2.5 million advertising campaign urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade as the justices are slated to hear oral arguments in a major abortion case next week.
Last week, the Susan B. Anthony List released three ads as part of its “Modernize our Law” campaign ahead of the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. One ad focuses on a young woman who was adopted, while another features a doctor who regrets performing abortions. The third ad features a doctor who cares for pregnant mothers and children.
The ads will air on local news and cable stations in the Washington, D.C. media market, including CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News, Newsmax, CNBC and CNN. Additionally, the ads will air in nine battleground states through a targeted digital campaign.
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Susan B. Anthony List has committed $10 million overall to its ad campaign ahead of the Dobbs hearing, which could present an opportunity to the conservative-leaning high court to revisit earlier rulings that have set a precedent for legalizing abortion access nationwide for decades.
On Dec. 1, the justices will hear oral arguments in a challenge to a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. A ruling in favor of the state of Mississippi, which is seeking to uphold the ban, would chip away at the precedent set in Roe v. Wade, which ruled that women have the right to obtain an abortion until an unborn baby becomes viable.
In the Susan B. Anthony List ads, the adopted child and medical professionals make the case that the scientific and technological advancements in the nearly 50 years since Roe was decided justify a reversal of the landmark Supreme Court decision.
The first ad tells the story of Annie Fitzgerald, who was adopted by a couple in Peoria, Illinois. After praising her adoptive parents for giving her a “really good life,” she lamented that “I could have been an abortion.”
“I am so grateful that my birth mom chose adoption. I’m grateful she chose life,” Fitzgerald said. “Everyone has a purpose and a plan in their life and they deserve a chance to get to fulfill that.”
Fitzgerald called the idea that abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy “extreme.”
“Nobody wants to see a baby that is fully developed be killed in an abortion,” she argued.
“I think it’s time that the Supreme Court places limits on abortion,” she continued. “Follow the science. It’s the 21st century. We have sonograms. We have 3D ultrasounds. It’s a human life, and like everyone else, it deserves a chance to live.”
As the ad concludes, a picture of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. appears on screen accompanied by the words “Empower women. Protect life.” Fitzgerald remarked that “[i]t’s definitely time for the Supreme Court to follow the science and modernize the laws.”
The second ad features Dr. John Bruchalski, an obstetrician and gynecologist who expressed regret for performing abortions early in his career.
“As I gained wisdom and as I gained insight, I realized that there were really two patients: the mom as well as the child developing inside,” Bruchalski said. “We now have done studies where we know that by the time of a 15-week-old baby, there’s thousands of pain receptors throughout the child’s body.”
“A child at 15 weeks can actually hear and respond to the voice of its mom,” he asserted. “I find it amazing that when it comes to the care of human life at its most vulnerable stages, we are relying on science and medicine that is over 50 years old. Science has made incredible progress in obstetrics and gynecology.”
Bruchalski declared at the end of the ad that it is time for “law to catch up to the science” and the Supreme Court to “limit late-term abortions.”
The third ad features another medical doctor, Dr. Casey Delcoco, elaborating on the science of fetal development.
“By six weeks, we can detect a heartbeat with ultrasound technology. By 15 weeks, they can feel pain,” Delcoco, who has delivered over 800 babies, said. “With incubator and proper care, babies can survive after being born at 21, 22 weeks.”
“Since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, we’ve made many advancements in modern medicine,” Delcoco continued. “The scientific data that Roe v. Wade was based upon is antiquated. I think that the law should reflect the science.”
Delcoco described Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban as “absolutely necessary” and characterized state laws allowing abortion up until the moment of birth as “horrific.”
In a statement, SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser argued that “Science continually affirms the humanity of unborn children.”
“By 15 weeks, children in the womb have fully formed noses and lips, eyelids and eyebrows; they can suck their thumb, and even feel pain,” Dannenfelser said.
Critics contend that the U.S. allows for abortions later in pregnancy than most other countries.
“The U.S. is one of seven nations — including China and North Korea — that allow late-term abortion on demand more than halfway through pregnancy, well after unborn babies feel pain,” Dannenfelser said.
“Americans overwhelmingly reject such extreme policies, yet their elected officials are shackled to Supreme Court precedents that in effect allow unlimited abortion up until birth – these are needlessly divisive and decades out of step with medicine and technology.”
The Supreme Court announced that it would hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in May. A decision is expected before the end of the Supreme Court’s current term, most likely in June.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
