“Abortion will be the message of this election, and it will be how we energize voters,” Planned Parenthood Votes' Jenny Lawson said.
Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit that provides sexual and reproductive healthcare services across the U.S., announced that it will be spending $40 million ahead of the 2024 election in an attempt to influence key races in several swing states, according to the Associated Press.
The political and advocacy arms of Planned Parenthood are hoping that anger over the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that created a constitutional right to have an abortion, will help President Joe Biden and key Congressional Democrats.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]“Abortion will be the message of this election, and it will be how we energize voters,” Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, was quoted saying in the Associated Press. “It will be what enables us to win.”
Most Republican-controlled states have imposed new abortion restrictions since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, including some bans at every stage of pregnancy.
Read More: She Wasn’t Able to Get an Abortion. Now She’s a Mom. Soon She’ll Start 7th Grade.
Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and Ohio, all states which usually vote Republican, sided with abortion-rights supporters on ballot measures in the aftermath of the 2022 Supreme Court decision. Voters in other swing states like Arizona, Nevada, and Florida will also have abortion referendums on their ballots in November.
The advocacy efforts are expected to initially include targeting eight battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Montana, New Hampshire, and New York. They will attempt to reach voters using canvassing, phone calls, TV, and mail advertisements.
The $40 million figure is below the $45 million spent supporting Biden’s campaign in 2020 and the $50 million on the midterm congressional elections in 2022.