Election 2024: Culture of life, culture of death square off

Rebecca Kiessling holds a sign at the Almost Aborted launch event on June 7, 2024, in Times Square in New York City. Kiessling was conceived in rape, and her mother almost chose abortion, but life-affirming legislation protected her. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Students for Life of America

CNA Staff, Aug 8, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Two recently launched advertising campaigns illustrate part of the epic clash between the culture of life and the culture of death taking place in this year’s U.S. elections.

Students for Life of America (SFLA), a group that trains and supports pro-life advocates on college and high school campuses, kicked off this summer the launch if its “Almost Aborted” campaign, highlighting the stories of people who survived abortions, were conceived in rape, or had genetic abnormalities in utero as well as women who were pressured to abort.

SFLA organizers indicated the campaign is in “direct response” to a $200 million pro-abortion American Bridge advertisement campaign on abortion targeting swing voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin for the upcoming 2024 election.

SFLA’s videos and billboards share the stories of people such as Josiah, an abortion survivor who has a deformed left arm because of an attempted abortion, and Rebecca, who was conceived in rape. Launched in Times Square in New York in June, the campaign features digital and billboard advertising focused on battleground states of Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, and Arizona.

The SFLA Almost Aborted campaign is the organization’s “largest to date,” so far reaching a digital audience of 8.1 million, with more than 5.1 million views since its launch. In addition, to date the organization’s billboard campaign is estimated to have reached 18.5 million Americans.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also announced it is in the midst of a seven-figure advertising campaign for “abortion rights” in Wisconsin.

The ACLU, along with ACLU of Wisconsin, announced on Aug. 5 a $1.75 million campaign to “inform voters about the candidates’ positions on abortion rights in the upcoming 2024 U.S. Senate race and state legislative races across the state.”

“The ACLU is engaging in these races because there’s too much at stake in this election — most notably the right to essential, lifesaving health care,” said Esete Assefa, chief political adviser at the ACLU, in an Aug. 5 press release.

The Wisconsin campaign is just a part of the ACLU’s $25 million effort “to safeguard and advance fundamental rights during the 2024 election, with a laser focus on protecting and expanding abortion and voting rights up and down the ballot.”