Planned Parenthood Votes, EMILY’s List’s WOMEN VOTE! Target Ayotte in New Hampshire
For Immediate Release: Sept. 12, 2016
Washington, DC –– Today, Planned Parenthood Votes and EMILY’s List’s WOMEN VOTE! announced a collective $1.7 million TV and digital ad buy hitting both Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump for their dangerous positions on women’s health. The ad, “Wrong,” details how both Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump want to defund Planned Parenthood and oppose access to safe, legal abortion. The ad will run starting today and will air through September 20 in the Boston media market. Planned Parenthood Votes will also be going up with digital ads as part of the buy.
Kelly Ayotte’s terrible voting record on women’s health is deeply unpopular in New Hampshire. Her six votes to defund Planned Parenthood and block women from accessing birth control and cancer screenings are opposed by sixty-six percent of New Hampshire voters, who support Planned Parenthood. And her opposition to safe, legal abortion is rejected by 73 percent of Granite Staters who support access to abortion—the highest rate of support in the nation. Even the Republican-controlled Executive Council and the Republican-controlled House and Senate in New Hampshire have recognized this and rejected attempts to defund Planned Parenthood.
“Every time Kelly Ayotte votes to defund Planned Parenthood, she ignores New Hampshire voters,” said Deirdre Schifeling, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Votes. “Kelly Ayotte has prioritized blocking access to women’s health for her entire political career. And now, she’s firmly on the Trump train. Granite Staters have spoken loud and clear –– they want women to have access to reproductive health. That’s why Kelly Ayotte is going to get voted out in November.
“Time and again, Kelly Ayotte has proven herself to be in lockstep with Donald Trump when it comes to her disastrous policies concerning women’s health,” said EMILY’s List Executive Director Jessica O’Connell. “Ayotte wants to have Roe v. Wade overturned and supports a national abortion ban. She repeatedly voted to defund Planned Parenthood and cosponsored a measure to allow employers to deny women access to birth control. Her refusal to distance herself from a candidate who has said that women should face ‘some form of punishment’ for having an abortion speaks louder than words – and New Hampshire voters are taking notice.”
New Hampshire voters are powerful. According to 538, New Hampshire is high on the voter power index -- meaning voters here have more of a chance of influencing their state’s electoral votes than anywhere else in the country.
This ad buy with EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! is part of Planned Parenthood Votes’ unprecedented investment in New Hampshire. Last week, Planned Parenthood Votes announced a $2 million joint campaign with NextGen and SEIU that will reach hundreds of thousands of doors in New Hampshire. The ground program will target the voters who will decide this election – voters who haven’t made up their minds yet.
Narrator: Kelly Ayotte says she’s on our side, but on our rights, she’s squarely with Donald Trump
Trump: Planned Parenthood should absolutely be defunded
Narrator: Ayotte agrees, voting six times to do just that, defund Planned Parenthood. And both oppose our right to safe and legal abortion.
Ayotte: I certainly think that Roe should be overturned.
Trump: There must be some form of punishment.
Chris Matthews: For the woman?
Trump: Yeah. There has to be some form.
Narrator: Ayotte and Trump. Wrong for New Hampshire women.