Abortion is not officially on the ballot in North Carolina this November, but it could be a driving force for some voters.

What You Need To Know

  • Abortion access could be a factor in North Carolina this election

  • Planned Parenthood said it will spend $10 million in N.C.

  • Planned Parenthood will try to defeat Republican Mark Robinson and others

Organizations on both sides of the battle over reproductive rights are spending big dollars in North Carolina and other swing states to motivate and energize voters on the issue.

Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights, hasn’t said how much it will spend nationally yet, but in the 2022 midterms it said it spent a record $50 million.

The organization said it will spend $10 million on elections in North Carolina alone.

“Because the stakes for abortion access in North Carolina, and the entire south, are so high, Planned Parenthood’s political entities in North Carolina are launching our largest voter engagement campaign ever,” said Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic Deputy Director Emily Thompson.

A group opposed to abortion rights, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said canvassers will make a million visits to voters’ homes, its largest such outreach ever.

The organization said it's planning to raise and spend $92 million nationally to reach voters in eight states this campaign cycle, including North Carolina.

“It’s targeted spending,” Davidson College Politics Professor Susan Roberts said. “Microtargeting is very essential, in which you can take big data, you can find out the profiles of the voters, and that’s where you can find out the profiles of the voters, and that’s where you can focus your money.”

In November, voters in Florida will see an abortion referendum on the ballot, and similar ballot questions are likely in other states. There will be no such referendum in North Carolina, but abortion has taken center stage.

Last year the GOP-controlled state legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto to ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, down from 20 weeks.

A large chunk of Planned Parenthood’s spending in North Carolina will be aimed at defeating Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson and ending the Republicans’ narrow veto-proof supermajority in the state house and senate. 

One Republican Planned Parenthood said it’s targeting is Tricia Cotham, whose decision to flip from Democrat to Republican allowed Republicans to override Cooper’s veto of their abortion restrictions.

“The core component of our campaign is door-to-door campaigning, and we’ll be knocking over one million doors in four counties,” Thompson said. “We’re also communicating with voters through digital advertising, campus media programming, phone banking, direct mail.”

With six months before the election, Planned Parenthood and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America are starting their efforts early, giving them more time to influence voters.