Abortion Funds the Democrat Party

It's not exactly a mystery why Obama and the Democrats refused to strip the funding for Planned Parenthood from the spending bills (h/t Paul Kelly):

Dining with President Obama Tuesday night at a private $30,000-a-plate fundraiser in the tony Austin, Texas, neighborhood of Westlake Hills was Cecile Richards, CEO of abortion provider and lobbying powerhouse Planned Parenthood. It was a telling reminder of an underappreciated dynamic in Democratic fundraising.

Obama reminded us in April of abortion's pre-eminent role in the Democratic Party: After acquiescing to Republican demands on taxes and spending, he wouldn't budge on federal subsidies for Planned Parenthood. To better understand Democrats' inflexibility on this matter, follow the money.

The abortion lobby spends about $40 million each election to help Democrats. EMILY's List, dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women, operates a political action committee (which can directly fund candidates), a 527 committee (which can run only "issue ads"), and a so-called SuperPAC (which use media to support or oppose candidates). In each of the past three election cycles, the group's PAC and 527 have both been in the top four of those supporting Democrats. The PAC has spent $82 million in that period, while the 527 has spent $35 million, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2010, the group created a SuperPAC, which spent $3.6 million, making it the fifth biggest such group in the country.

More important, however, may be the social dynamics among wealthy liberals who make up the Democrats' fundraising network. Everywhere you see Obama and his party raising money, you see an abortion activist playing a lead role.

I wonder if somebody could work up the per-baby donation that each abortion represents to the Dem party? That would be an interesting number to see in a campaign ad.