Planned Parenthood Votes, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona Launch Midterm Electoral Campaign in Arizona

Phoenix, AZ – Days after the Arizona primary, Planned Parenthood Votes, in partnership with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, announced the launch of its 2018 electoral program to elect reproductive health care champions in the gubernatorial race, the U.S. Senate race, and several down-ticket races. For the 2018 midterms, Planned Parenthood Votes is making an investment of $2 million, which begins with a $500,000 digital ad buy to educate voters about Martha McSally’s voting record, including votes to strip protections for people with pre-existing conditions and “defund” Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that Arizonans overwhelmingly support access to care at Planned Parenthood, McSally has voted eight times to block access to care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

In addition to the digital ads, the electoral program will include a robust door-to-door canvassing program to reach voters, educate them about what’s at stake in the midterms, and mobilize them to vote. Planned Parenthood Votes will also engage in a mail program to ensure every Arizonan knows the important issues affecting them in the midterms. In total, the program will reach over 400,000 Arizona voters through door knocking, digital, and mail.  

Statement from Jamie Aragon, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona:

Martha McSally has spent her career in Congress voting to strip away our health care and rights. She has voted to take health care away from 450,000 Arizonans and voted to block access to birth control and cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood. She has no business being in the U.S. Senate, and this November, Arizonans have the power to vote her out.

“Kyrsten Sinema is the change Arizona needs — someone who will fight for our rights and freedoms to control our own bodies. She’ll protect Arizonans from the Trump-Pence administration’s hostile attacks on health care, including access to birth control, cancer screenings, and safe, legal abortion.

“It’s time to send a message to politicians like Martha McSally: If you try to take away our health care, we’re going to vote you out.

With Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration’s domestic gag rule, and the pre-existing conditions case pending, the health and rights of Arizonans are truly on the line in the midterms. In addition, over the past year, the Trump-Pence administration has allowed employers to deny birth control coverage to their employees, tried to cut teen pregnancy prevention programs, tried to block care at Planned Parenthood, attempted to strip more than 20 million people of their health care, and stacked the courts with anti-abortion judges. These policies are hardest on communities of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ communities that have been historically discriminated against, and as a result have worse access to reproductive health care — and worse health outcomes.

As a result of these attacks, women have been leading an unprecedented increase in activism and energy across the country to fight back. Through this electoral program, Planned Parenthood Votes is positioned to channel this new grassroots energy into electoral victories in 2018.

Martha McSally would strip away the rights and health care of Arizonans:

• She’s voted to “defund” Planned Parenthood eight times, which would put health care at risk for the over 34,000 Arizonans who rely on Planned Parenthood. Sixty-three percent of her constituents oppose defunding.

• She voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and block Arizonans from accessing affordable health care, including the 1.4 million Arizona women living with pre-existing conditions and people covered by Medicaid.

• She wants to ban abortion and has said Roe v. Wade is the “wrong direction.”

• McSally supports "prohibiting abortion except where it is necessary to prevent the death of the mother."

• She remains silent on the accusations regarding Republicans Roy Moore and Donald Trump, while condemning Democratic Rep. John Conyers.

• She bragged that her new immigration bill splits families apart,stating “we’re eliminating parents, brothers, sisters.”

• McSally strongly supports Trump’s border wall, saying “we have got to build [the] wall”

• She voted for a tax bill that raised taxes on many in the middle class while cutting Medicaid and causing millions of people to lose health insurance.

Kyrsten Sinema is a champion for reproductive health care:

• Sinema has a 100 percent scorecard rating with Planned Parenthood Action Fund based on her long record of championing access to reproductive health care and women’s rights.

• As a former Planned Parenthood patient, Sinema understands the important role Planned Parenthood plays in providing affordable access to vital health care services, particularly for underserved communities with barriers such as low incomes.

• Sinema voted to preserve the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and protections for people with pre-existing conditions ultimately helping save health care for millions of people.

• She has fought back against proposals to undermine a woman’s ability to make their own health care decisions, including 20-week abortion bans and attempts to allow employer discrimination based on reproductive health choices.

• She’s an advocate for comprehensive sex education in Arizona.

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Planned Parenthood Votes is an independent expenditure political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission.

Planned Parenthood of Arizona’s advocacy and political arm, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona (PPAA), is the state’s largest nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to protecting access to reproductive health care. PPAA is fighting for every person’s freedom and right to make reproductive choices, enjoy sexual health and wellbeing, and build healthy, strong families. Advocatesaz.org