Advocates of Planned Parenthood Launches Campaign to Elect Pro-Abortion Candidates
Contact: Julie Lynn, [email protected]
For Immediate Release: Oct. 6, 2022
ST. LOUIS — Today, Advocates of the Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri (Advocates of PPSLRSWMO) launches a targeted electoral program to get out the vote and elect leaders who will fight to rebuild abortion access in Missouri. The program targets voters in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Southwest Missouri.
Within minutes of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and ending our federal constitutional right to abortion, Missouri was the first state to implement a widely unpopular abortion ban. This extreme and unpopular ban is about more than abortion: it’s about who has power and control over people's lives, bodies, and futures. Health care decisions belong to patients — not politicians.
Statement from Stacy Sherrod, Manager of Grassroots Organizing, Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri
“Abortion access is a motivating and winning political issue. Reproductive rights are top-of-mind as voters head to the ballot box. And attacks on our freedoms will cost anti-abortion politicians on Election Day. No one wants politicians in an exam room making decisions about our bodies and our lives. From now until Election Day, we are working with our partners to rally voters to take control at the ballot box and turn out in record numbers to elect leaders who will protect our health and rights.”
Polling shows that anti-abortion politicians in Jefferson City are out of line with Missourians. An August 2022 Saint Louis University poll shows that 81 percent of respondents disagree with criminalizing a patient for seeking an abortion, and 51 percent don’t think the state is “going in the right direction.” Nationally, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that six in 10 Americans say the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will make them more likely to vote in the midterm elections.
Advocates of PPSLRSWMO will knock on hundreds of doors and make thousands of calls engaging, educating, and mobilizing voters to the polls. Supporters interested in volunteering can sign up here.