Catholic Church puts another $75K toward Amendment G debate
Political influencers and high-profile public officials on both sides of the aisle — and inside and outside of South Dakota — are exerting their financial might as the state’s fight over abortion access enters its final days.
Amendment G ballot question committees have continued to rake in cash since last week’s campaign finance reporting deadline, with amendment sponsor Dakotans for Health and No G for SD and Life Defense Fund filing dozens of supplemental disclosures in the final days of the 2024 election cycle.
On Monday, Gov. Kristi Noem’s national political action committee, registered to the second-term Republican, announced it had contributed $25,000 to No G for SD, the ballot question committee behind an onslaught of advertising opposing the proposal to loosen South Dakota’s near-total ban on abortion.
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“The most precious gift that God blesses us with is life,” Noem said in a news release. “I will continue to stand for the freedom of every baby to be born, and I hope that the people of South Dakota choose life.”
She’s not the only sitting governor to wade into the battle over Amendment G, which proposes to enshrine abortion access into the state Constitution.
After initial campaign finance disclosures filed ahead of the Oct. 22 deadline showed No G for SD and Life Defense Fund were together outpacing Dakotans for Health over the summer and early fall, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Think Big America nonprofit, which bills itself as a social welfare and abortion rights advocacy organization, closed the gap with a $500,000 contribution in support of Amendment G.
The governors’ contributions brought praise and appreciation from the respective ballot question committees.
“We are extremely pleased that Think Big America … has decided to give South Dakota women a hand in their fight against the more than two million dollars contributed by Right to Life and their allies to those in favor of retaining South Dakota’s total abortion ban,” Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland said. “It certainly helps to level the playing field.”
Pritzker’s wife is South Dakota native Mary Kathryn Muenster. She used to work for Sen. Tom Daschle.
Kathy Thorson, No G for SD chairwoman and campaign treasurer, noted the flood of campaign advertising that contributions from Noem and all its financial backers are paying for.
“Women and men all across South Dakota have generously donated to oppose Amendment G because it’s so extreme,” she said. “As you can see from our report, we’re spending these funds on explaining how extreme G really is.”
Lt. Gov. Rhoden also appears on No G for SD’s supplemental disclosure report, cutting a $10,000 check from his campaign committee for the cause. Congressman Dusty Johnson has engaged in a radio campaign encouraging people to vote against the measure.
Church continues to flex
Since the initial disclosure deadline, when No G for SD reported another $50,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, bringing the church’s total financial contribution toward the campaign committee to $190,000, another $25,000 from the Catholic Chancery Office in Sioux Falls also appears on a supplemental disclosure by Life Defense Fund, while the Rapid City Catholic Diocese also chipped in $10,000 to No G for SD.
