Planned Parenthood will invest $5 million in the state of North Carolina ahead of this November’s midterm elections, the company announced Friday.
Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action PAC North Carolina said the money will be used in 14 swing legislative districts to produce ads, mailers, phone banks and help petition efforts.
The investment is part of the abortion provider’s $50 million national campaign to protect reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade during the summer.
Democratic state Sen. Natalie Murdock of Durham County and state Rep. Julie von Haefen of Wake County encourage North Carolina voters to support candidates who preserve abortion access at a conference in press in Raleigh on August 18, 2022.
(AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
North Carolina is historically a competitive battleground and even more so with voters who potentially think the outcome of the midterm elections could determine the legality of abortion in their state.
ABORTIONS IN ARIZONA, OHIO ARE LEGAL AFTER SEPARATE COURT RULING
Over the summer, a federal judge ruled that abortions should remain legal in North Carolina up to 20 weeks into pregnancy. Republicans in the state, however, have tried to outlaw it.
Although their efforts have so far been rebuffed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Republicans are just five seats shy of a supermajority in the General Assembly, three seats shy of the House and two in the Senate, which would give them power to override a potential veto.
Hundreds of protesters gather and march in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 24, 2022.
(Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, file)
Emily Thompson, deputy director of Planned Parenthood Action PAC of North Carolina, said her team’s efforts are to prevent Republicans from gaining a supermajority in the General Assembly.
“If we don’t elect reproductive rights champions in five key state Senate races, an anti-abortion supermajority will have the votes to ban abortion in North Carolina,” Thompson said. “And if we don’t defend two critical North Carolina Supreme Court seats, we will lose our last line of defense against restrictive state laws designed to rob us of our right to make our own health care decisions.”
ARIZONA JUDGE DENIES PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S PRAYER TO STAY RULING THAT STOPS ALL ABORTIONS
State Republicans, as recently as this week, said they would not completely ban abortion even if they won a veto-proof majority. GOP leaders said claims to the contrary are wrong.
“They haven’t been able to point to anyone because it doesn’t exist,” Berger said Wednesday.
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Planned Parenthood is also pouring resources into North Carolina’s high-profile U.S. Senate race between Democrat Cheri Beasley and Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, as well as two state Supreme Court races.
North Carolina remains one of the few states in the South that maintains legal abortion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
