Planned Parenthood Advocacy and Political Groups Launch Ads, Mail in Georgia; Voters Need to Know the Facts About David Perdue’s Record and Agenda for Women’s Health and Rights
For Immediate Release: Oct. 27, 2014
“Georgia Women Can’t Afford David Perdue”
ATLANTA, GA -- Planned Parenthood advocacy and political groups are launching digital ads and mail to help ensure Georgia voters know the facts about David Perdue’s record and positions on women’s health and rights. The ads call David Perdue’s anti-women’s health agenda “out of touch” with Georgia women and families. They highlight his opposition to some equal pay measures and the Affordable Care Act, including the birth control benefit, which has already saved American women more than $483 million in the first year alone. One of the ads says “Georgia women can’t afford David Perdue.” This is the groups’ first investment in the Georgia Senate race, and it comes as early voting is underway.
You can view some of the digital ads here: http://womenarewatching.org/georgia-ads
You can view the mail piece here: http://womenarewatching.org/sites/default/files/media/pp-ga-ask-woman-mc14.pdf
The mail piece, which will be sent to more than 75,000 households in the Atlanta area, highlights that “David Perdue’s company was sued by more than 2,000 women for discrimination” and that his “anti-women’s health agenda is dangerous and out of touch with Georgia women and families.” It ends with “David Perdue: Putting politics ahead of women.” In addition, Planned Parenthood Votes will be making calls to more than 90,000 households now through Election Day to ensure supporters get out to vote.
“Our message to Georgia voters is simple: every vote counts. What happens this November will have enormous consequences for women’s health and rights in this country,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “Keeping a pro-women’s health majority in the U.S. Senate is our top priority – and it will all come down to a few key races, and a few thousand voters. We’re working to make sure Georgia voters understand the facts about David Perdue's record and agenda when it comes to issues important to women’s health and rights, and that they turn out to vote.”
“Voters need to be clear on one thing: David Perdue is out of touch with Georgia women on issues like access to birth control and equal pay,” said Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates. “It’s time to stand up to people who are trying to deny access to these basic rights to all women, and the easiest way to do that is to vote. This election is truly critical, and we need voters to stand up and send a message to politicians like David Perdue that you can’t win elections by opposing women’s health and rights.”
Americans – across party lines – want women and their doctors, not politicians and bosses – making health care decisions. Women’s health and economic security for women and families will be top motivators for key voters in November.
- According to polling, 95 percent of female Democrats, 82 percent of female Independent voters, and 63 percent of female Republican voters agree that prescription birth control should be covered as a preventive health service with no additional copay.
- 57 percent of women voters say they would be more likely to support a candidate who opposes allowing employers to refuse to cover birth control.
- According to recent Gallup polling, “nearly four in 10 Americans say equal pay is the top issue facing working women in the United States today, a sentiment shared by roughly the same proportions of men, women, and working women. About twice as many Americans mention equal pay as cite the second-ranked issue – equal opportunity for advancement. No other issue is cited by more than 10% of Americans.”
BACKGROUND:
David Perdue: Out of touch with Georgia women and families.
David Perdue would make birth control more expensive: He thinks bosses and politicians should decide whether you get access to affordable birth control and stated that he was “encouraged” by the deeply unpopular Supreme Court ruling that gives bosses a permission slip to deny their employees access to birth control coverage, forcing women to go back to the days of paying up to $600 more a year. [Perdue NRLC Questionnaire, 2014; Facebook, 6/30/14]
David Perdue would deny Georgia women and families access to Planned Parenthood: He supports efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, ignoring the lifesaving preventive care like cancer screenings and STI testing that health centers provide. [Perdue NRLC Questionnaire, 2014]
David Perdue wants to go back to the days when insurance companies could charge women more for health care coverage: He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and go back to the days where women pay more for health insurance, or can be denied coverage for so-called “pre-existing conditions” like breast cancer or domestic abuse. [PolitiFact, 6/27/14; Perdue NRLC Questionnaire, 2014]
David Perdue would impose his extreme beliefs about abortion on women and their families: Perdue wants to ban safe and legal abortion, supports overturning Roe v. Wade, and has pledged to vote against any legislation that would “weaken any pro-life law or policy.” [Perdue NRLC Questionnaire, 2014]
David Perdue opposes laws that would ensure women get paid the same for equal work:David Perdue’s company was sued by more than 2,000 women for discrimination and he does not support the Paycheck Fairness Act, a commonsense law that would expand equal pay protections for women. Georgia women are paid 81 cents for every dollar a man makes — which means the average woman working full time earns $8,228 less than the average man each year. [Mother Jones, 5/20/2014; PolitiFact, 9/9/14; PolitiFact, 10/2/14; National Partnership for Women & Families, April 2014]