Chris Lange, FISM News
Planned Parenthood is pouring tens of millions of dollars into the midterm elections.
Thanks in part to a boon of donations following the repeal of Roe v. Wade, the nation’s largest abortion provider announced plans to spend a record $50 million on ads and door-to-door campaigns in states where access to the life-ending procedure will be on the ballot.
“We say this every cycle: ‘This is the important election,’” said Amy Kennedy, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes in Georgia, in statement obtained by the Huffington Post. “For us, this really is the most important election cycle of our life.”
On the very day that Politico published a leaked draft of the Supreme Court decision to repeal federal abortion rights, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and two other pro-abortion groups announced plans to spend a combined $150 million on the midterms “to ensure the election of reproductive freedom champions up and down the ballot” and “aggressively respond the unprecedented attacks” on abortion rights. The goal of the campaign is to “raise voters’ awareness of the lawmakers who are to blame,” according to a press release.
The pro-abortion collective hopes to reach 10 million voters with phone calls, digital and radio ads, mailers, and door-knocking in states like Arizona, California, Georgia, Kansas, and Wisconsin in an effort “to re-elect abortion rights champions and retire lawmakers who threaten our constitutional right to make our own medical decisions and control our bodies and our lives.”
Author Ryan Bomberger pointed out the vast amount of taxpayer money Planned Parenthood receives each year, despite its massive, and totally partisan political contributions.
Amazing what you can do w/ our tax dollars. We're forced to fund $600 million+ to @PPFA each year…and they funnel millions to their 501c4 orgs. See how it works? #PlannedParenthood will spend $50 million in #midterms to elect pro-abortion Dems. https://t.co/RRktXpUtto
— Ryan Bomberger (@ryanbomberger) August 17, 2022
The midterm campaign effort will “be made up and down the ballot, from state legislatures to Attorney Generals and governors, to U.S. Congressional races.”
Planned Parenthood will also invest in Senate races, including Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson’s reelection bid. Television ads sponsored by the organization have already begun airing in the state.
“Who wins in these midterm elections will determine whether a state has access to abortion and potentially determine whether we will face a national abortion ban,” Jenny Lawson, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a video message posted on YouTube. “We will be clear about who is on which side.”
Just how much weight the repeal of Roe will have in the midterm elections, if any, remains unclear. A December Harris Poll found that 56% of Americans favor at least some form of abortion restrictions, while a separate survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research published July 21 showed that 53% of Americans disapprove of the SCOTUS decision to send abortion rights back to the states.
Earlier this month in red-state Kansas, voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the legislature to advance a ban on abortion.
In recent weeks, some prominent Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have appeared to try to lower previous expectations of a “red wave” in November, though none have stated outright what spurred the about-face and whether it has anything to do with the renewed focus on abortion.