The Quickie: New Poll Finds Support for Legal Abortion at Record High 

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: New poll finds record-high support for legal abortion, canvassing in PA for reproductive freedom, PPAF president talks midterms with the Breakfast Club, SNL features abortion rights, GOTV in MI to protect abortion access, and KS Gov. candidate Derek Schmidt is bad for repro rights!

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL FINDS SUPPORT FOR LEGAL ABORTION AT RECORD HIGH: A new poll conducted by ABC News/Washington Post shows that support for legal abortion is at a record high among American voters heading into the midterm elections. The poll found that 66% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, up 8% since April, and the highest level of support the poll has found since 1995. Support for legal abortion among women increased to 74% from 62% last spring. Among Republican women, support for abortion increased 15 points to 43%, while those saying abortion should be illegal in all cases decreased from 34% to 10%. The poll also surveyed people in 14 states where all abortion services have nearly ceased since the Dobbs decision, finding that the percentage of respondents supporting legal abortion (63%) in these states is up 20 points from April.  

PROTECTING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM ONE DOOR AND ONE VOTE AT A TIME IN BUCKS COUNTY, PA: This weekend, Pennsylvania Capital-Star editor-in-chief John Micek spent the morning with Planned Parenthood Votes in Bucks County, PA, where every vote is critical to maintaining reproductive freedom in the state. Voters at the doors told Micek and canvasser Ellie Seiter that abortion rights are high on their priorities this election, with one voters saying, “I’m a strong believer in Democratic issues, especially for reproductive rights and the need to secure that for women — and families as well.”

Micek also spoke to leaders from Planned Parenthood Votes about why the organization has invested so heavily in the state: 

“Pennsylvania is one of our most important states,” Shwetika Baijal, Planned Parenthood Votes’ senior campaign director, said during a brief interview outside a staging office in Doylestown, the county seat. “The thing they need to understand here is that the ability for someone else to make decisions over your life is what’s at stake here.”

… “We want voters to understand what’s at stake with Roe falling,” Breana Ross, of Planned Parenthood Votes, said Saturday as volunteers prepared for a long day of knocking on doors. “And what will be on the ballot in 2023 as well.”

Read more at the Penn Capital-Star. 

ACTION FUND PRESIDENT TALKS MIDTERM ELECTIONS WITH THE BREAKFAST CLUB: Alexis McGill Johnson, President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, joined The Breakfast Club alongside EMILY’s List president Laphonza Butler to discuss the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the agenda of the anti-abortion movement, and the impact this years’ midterms will have on reproductive rights. Alexis emphasized the importance of electing a pro-reproductive rights majority and working with the Biden administration to protect abortion access:

“I think the opportunity we have now is if we get to 52 senators, we have a president that we can hold to the fire around this. He said he’s willing to get rid of the filibuster. He said that codifying Roe would be his first act of business, and the John Lewis voting bill would be the second.”

Watch and/or listen to the full interview here.

“WE ALL LOVE SOMEONE WHO’S HAD AN ABORTION”: SNL TAKES ON ABORTION RIGHTS: This weekend, Saturday Night Live (SNL) featured a skit with Tammy the Trucker, played by Cecily Strong, in a send up of the political narrative that stacks economic issues as competing with abortion rights in the election.  

“All I’m here to talk about is gas, even though the Supreme Court said Roe v. Wade did that big pit stop in the sky,” Strong jokes. “Yea, 50 years of precedent, beep beep!”

Strong made a direct appeal to the audience in support of abortion rights before the midterm elections tomorrow. 

“The truth is, I have felt pretty helpless over the past year, and it’s hard to know what to say to make other truckers feel better, even though I have this big giant radio,” Strong said. “So here’s a thing I can say: There’s one mothertruckin thing we can do to fight for mothertruckin freedom to make our own health care decisions, and that’s vote… Because remember we all love someone who’s had an abortion.” 

Watch the full sketch here and read more at Jezebel. 

‘WE’RE LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED’ - GETTING OUT THE VOTE ALL ACROSS MICHIGAN TO GET OUT THE VOTE FOR ABORTION RIGHTS CHAMPIONS: This weekend, Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson was all across the state of Michigan, where abortion is literally on the ballot, to get out the vote for Gretchen Whitmer and abortion rights champions up and down the ballot. Alexis stopped in East Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, alongside the presidents from NARAL and EMILY’s List, and Scandal actress Kerry Washington, to discuss what’s at stake in the election on Tuesday.

Read more about the weekend’s GOTV effort here. 

KS GOV. CANDIDATE DEREK SCHMIDT IS “A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING”: In an op-ed for the Wichita Eagle, Kortney Vincent-Woodbury, VP of Equity and Community Relations for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes PAC, warns Kansas voters that Derek Schmidt is not a moderate: he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. From his coziness with far-right conservatives like Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Ron DeSantis to his statements dismissing Kansans’ decisive vote for abortion rights, Schmidt is showing voters who he really is. Vincent-Woodbury writes:

Kansans were the first in the country to vote on abortion after Roe was overturned, and their message was overwhelmingly clear: the state does not belong in our private health care decisions. 

When Schmidt tries to talk over that very simple fact, he’s not just stubbornly sticking to his anti-abortion beliefs. He is huffing, and puffing, and preparing to blow down not just our reproductive rights, but every right in our democracy. 

We need a leader who will genuinely respect the will of voters, represent Kansas’ values, and protect our rights. [Gov. Laura Kelly] has been a clear and consistent defender of reproductive rights during her two decades in public office… Derek Schmidt’s extreme politics are out of step with Kansans, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes PAC is proud to endorse Laura Kelly for Governor.

Read the full op-ed at the Wichita Eagle.