The Quickie: In Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood Votes Launches Its Largest Ever State Supreme Court Ad Buy

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: PP Votes expands PA state Supreme Court ad campaign, Michigan’s Reproductive Health Act hits a potential roadblock, Wisconsin lawmakers fight back against PP resuming services, and the dangerous myth of “abortion tourism.”

IN PENNSYLVANIA, PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES LAUNCHES ITS LARGEST EVER STATE SUPREME COURT AD BUY: Today,  Planned Parenthood Votes launched a seven-figure television ad buy and expanded an existing digital ad campaign in Pennsylvania, spotlighting the high stakes for reproductive freedom in the state’s Supreme Court race this November. The campaign’s first television advertisement, “Erased” will run across television, streaming, and digital channels, targeting voters in the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and their surrounding counties. The historic ad buy marks Planned Parenthood Votes’ largest investment in a state Supreme Court race, and comes following the initial release of digital ads last month.

“Carolyn Carluccio may try to shade her views from the public eye, but she cannot pull one over on Pennsylvania voters. They know that the person elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will determine the future of abortion access in their state. They’re not going to take their chances on a politician who hid her anti-abortion views from voters by scrubbing her website and cozied up to far-right anti-abortion extremists,” said Breana Ross, Planned Parenthood Votes campaign director. “Pennsylvanians will go to the polls to protect their reproductive freedom, just like they did in 2022. And they will once again put anti-abortion politicians like Carolyn Carluccio on notice.” 

Ross also told Supercreator that this ad is critical for educating voters: “Our hope for this Supreme Court race this year is that we’re able to show how much local elections matter and how decision-makers can really impact folks’ ability to access abortion care or not.” 

Watch “Erased,” and read more in the Pennsylvania Capitol-Star and Supercreator.
 

MICHIGAN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACT HITS A POTENTIAL SNAG IN LEGISLATURE: After Michigan voters overwhelmingly voted last year to pass Proposal 3, advocates including Planned Parenthood of Michigan worked with lawmakers to introduce the Reproductive Health Act, legislation that would help ensure continued access to safe, legal abortion in Michigan by repealing medically unnecessary and discriminatory laws targeting abortion. Now, that effort may be held up by a single member in the legislature, endangering the proposal’s passage.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan President and CEO Paula Thornton Greear explained what is at stake if this opposition continues: “Rep. Karen Whitsett’s opposition to the Reproductive Health Act is a betrayal of her constituents who overwhelmingly support access to abortion. If Rep. Whitsett votes in opposition, she will be solely responsible for the continued enforcement of dozens of anti-abortion restrictions that disproportionately harm women of color and people who are struggling to make ends meet.”

“Every time a patient is forced to drive 7 hours to access abortion, has to reschedule their appointment over a timestamp, or worries over how they will afford care, Rep. Whitsett will be responsible. We urge Rep. Whitsett to listen to her constituents and pass the Reproductive Health Act.”

Read more from Michigan Advance here.
 

AS ABORTION CARE RESUMES, WISCONSIN LAWMAKERS ATTEMPT TO LIMIT ACCESS: On Monday, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed care at its Madison and Milwaukee health centers for the first time since the Dobbs decision last year, after a judge ruled that an abortion ban from 1849 is unenforceable. Despite this victory, there are still barriers to care in Wisconsin, and anti-abortion lawmakers in the state have proposed bills to make it more difficult. Their measures include barring government employees at the state or local level from providing abortions and additional funding for crisis pregnancy centers.

Dr. Allison Linton, an OB-GYN with Planned Parenthood in Milwaukee told the Cap Times that both city clinics had full schedules that day and have had to shift non-abortion related procedures to its other clinics in order to free up scheduling time to meet patient demand for abortion care. 

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is also working to restore access in its third health center in Sheboygan, where the District Attorney, Joel Urmanski, has vowed to continue to prosecute under the 1849 ban. 

“We absolutely plan on resuming services at our Sheboygan clinic,” Linton said. “It is truly just a staffing and logistics question right now.”

Read more in The Cap Times.
 

THE DANGEROUS AND DEMEANING “ABORTION TOURISM” NARRATIVE: As more and more states move to ban abortion, hostile lawmakers have increasingly used the term “abortion tourism” to shame patients who are forced to travel out of state to access abortion care. According to the Guttmacher Institute, since the Dobbs decision last year, states like Colorado and Illinois have seen a 89 percent and 69 percent increase respectively in abortion patients. But as Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse made clear this week, these people aren’t “crossing state lines to take in a Broadway show, finally eat at Momofuku and grab a relaxing abortion before ice skating at Rockefeller Center.” They have been stripped of their constitutional rights and are often left with few options. 

“‘Abortion tourism’ is a dismissive, frivolous phrase that implies abortion is a dismissive, frivolous thing — something that bored pregnant people do when they’ve suddenly run out of “Abbott Elementary” episodes”, Hesse explains. It’s reductive, demeaning and implies that  “reproductive care is a luxury, not a necessity.” 

Abortion is health care. No matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you make — no one should be forced to leave their community to access basic health care, including abortion. 

Read more at the Washington Post