• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 23, 2023

A year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a new analysis shows just much of a hot button campaign issue the subject as become.

The analysis, which focuses on the volume of ad spending, airings and explicit mentions of abortion rights in campaigns mounted by Democratic and Republican party candidates in the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections, likely is an indicator of campaign messaging heading into 2024 too, as most Americans oppose the ruling, regardless of what their personal beliefs are about abortion.

"On June 24, the Supreme Court officially handed down their ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade," reads the report, noting, "Over the next two weeks, 50 Democratic advertisers and 21 Republican advertisers aired abortion ads. Sixteen Democratic advertisers mentioned the Supreme Court. No reference to the Court was made in Republican ads."

In the month following the decision, Democratic abortion ad airings rose 49% and continued to grow leading into Election Day.

By July, 51 different Democratic candidates were running abortion ads on broadcast outlets, totaling more than 30,000 individual airings.

By October, Democratic candidates were airing 328,000 spots, which comprised nearly 40% of all their campaign messages.

By comparison, Republican candidates were relatively quiet -- averaging only a 2.3% abortion mention rate -- on the subject, focusing instead on other campaign messages heading into the midterms.

On the one-year anniversary of the decision, 14 states have placed strict restrictions on most abortion procedures, and the prominence of abortion political ad messaging remains high through 2023-to-date.