Planned Parenthood’s PAC launches major ad campaign in Pennsylvania, the next abortion battleground
The seven-figure buy targets an anti-abortion Republican candidate for the state Supreme Court who is supported by groups that oppose abortion from the moment of conception.
Planned Parenthood Votes, the national political action committee associated with the reproductive health care organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America, launched a seven-figure ad campaign against CAROLYN CARLUCCIO, the anti-abortion Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The campaign marks PPV’s largest investment in a state Supreme Court race and comes after the group ran digital ads against Carluccio in September. The substantial campaign also reflects a broader strategy in the abortion rights movement to localize the issue as a divided Congress promises virtually no meaningful action on the issue and President JOE BIDEN has exhausted much of his executive authority to advance meaningful progress.
“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,” BREANA ROSS, Planned Parenthood Votes campaign director, said to Supercreator News in an interview.
The campaign also demonstrates how essential abortion rights groups believe it to talk to voters not just during national election cycles but in off years too.
Carluccio is currently a judge on the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania, a position she has held since 2010. The former assistant US Attorney and Montgomery County’s Chief Public Defender advanced to the general election this November from the Republican primary in May. She’ll face off against DANIEL McCAFFERY, an army veteran and former Philadelphia assistant district attorney who was elected to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2019.
Earlier this year, Carluccio removed a résumé from her campaign website that described herself as a defender of “all life under the law.” In February, Carluccio submitted a questionnaire to a state pro-business organization that detailed endorsements she received from a statewide group that opposes abortion from the moment of conception and would grant legal protections to fetuses.
The campaign’s first TV ad is titled “Erased” targets voters in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and their surrounding counties and makes the case that Carluccio can’t be trusted to protect Pennsylvanians’ right to abortion care.
The ad will also run across streaming and digital channels.
“The future of abortion could be determined with this case,” Ross said. “[Carluccio] is just truly not in line with what Pennsylvanians want or need. And she’s not the leader we should have moving forward.”
Ross added the campaign is a response to the energy voters continue to express in support of abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Pennsylvania is one of several states impacted post-Roe with health care providers experiencing an increase in out-of-state patients due to abortion bans or restrictions in neighboring states. (Medication and in-clinic abortion are available through the 23rd week of pregnancy and, after that time, in certain cases when the health of the pregnant person is in danger. A majority of Pennsylvanians support abortion rights and oppose a state constitutional amendment banning access to abortion care.)
The state also elected two high-profile abortion rights champions in Democratic Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO and Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN who are vocal about advancing an agenda that expands and protects access to reproductive health care. Case in point: Shapiro zeroed out funding for anti-abortion counseling centers last month. And Fetterman introduced legislation in July that would allow people with private insurance plans to receive a full year’s worth of birth control at one time rather than be limited to a month-by-month supply.
“Our focus has really been supporter education around the importance of the court and letting them know that the courts specifically can be used as a weapon to take away our rights to control our bodies, our lives, and our futures,! and that the folks that are disproportionately impacted are Black and brown folks, are LGBTQ folks, they are folks that are immigrants and have low income,” she said. “I think the biggest thing that we've been focusing on with the ad is making sure that people see themselves and the fight and that they're aware that abortion access is at stake in Pennsylvania and is on the ballot this election cycle.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled Breana Ross’s name. Supercreator News apologizes for the error.