Planned Parenthood will spend a record $50 million in midterm elections – NBC4 Washington

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading reproductive healthcare provider and abortion rights organization, plans to spend a record $50 million ahead of November’s midterm elections, paying money in contests where access to abortion will be on the ballot.

The effort, which breaks the group’s previous spending record of $45 million set in 2020, comes about two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that created a constitutional right to abortion. It will be spearheaded by the organization’s political and advocacy arms and will focus on governor’s offices, U.S. Senate seats, and legislative races in nine states where abortion rights could be restricted or expanded depending on the result of the ballot.

The historic proportions of the mid-term campaign, when less money is generally spent, have been made possible by a torrent of money raised after the ruling of the new conservative High Court majority, triggering a tectonic shift in abortion policy. Now, for the first time, Republicans who have long campaigned against abortion and Roe against Wade will confront voters on an issue that is no longer hypothetical and has real consequences.

Planned Parenthood says its spending will help remind voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin what’s at stake in an attempt to boost the turnout of Democratic and independent voters.

“Who wins this midterm election will determine whether a state has access to abortion and potentially determine whether we face a nationwide abortion ban,” said Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes. “We will clearly know who is on which side.”

A recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a majority of Americans believe Congress should pass legislation guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide. More than half of respondents said they felt at least somewhat “sad” or “angry” about the Supreme Court’s decision.

Earlier this month in the red state of Kansas, voters rejected by nearly 20 percentage points a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the legislature to advance an abortion ban.

Whether this is truly a galvanizing question will become clear after Election Day, November 8.

“We say this every cycle: ‘This is the big election,'” said Amy Kennedy, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Votes in Georgia. “For us, this is really the most important election cycle of our lifetime.”

Planned Parenthood announced plans to reach 6 million voters through door-to-door, phone calls, digital ads, direct mail and radio ads. He has previously aired TV ads in Wisconsin, where Republicans control the state house and where Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson are up for re-election.

After the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a Howard University professor wrote an op-ed on the 13th Amendment as a new plan to protect abortion rights. The amendment could satisfy the most original members of the Court and it would center black people in the fight for abortion rights and bodily autonomy, explains professor Lisa Crooms-Robinson on LX News.

He also launches a website, takecontrol2022.com.

While the Supreme Court’s decision in June effectively left the definition of abortion policy to the states, Planned Parenthood says it is also investing in U.S. Senate races because Republicans have expressed interest in pursuing a ban. National Abortion Act, though such a move would almost certainly be vetoed by President Joe Biden.

Democrats and their allies have long tried, without much success, to energize supporters with a focus on abortion. But the Supreme Court’s decision clarified the issues like never before. In a dozen Republican-run states, abortion has already been banned or heavily restricted. Many more should follow.

“When people go to vote in November, almost half of the people who vote could live in a state that has already banned abortion or is about to ban abortion. These are entirely new circumstances,” said Lawson: “There are certainly a lot of issues that people are concerned about, but the state of abortion access is absolutely one of the defining issues this November.”