In a bid to draw a sharp contrast between the two major political parties' positions on abortion, the Democratic National Committee is spending six figures on a weeklong TV buy in Colorado warning that leading Republicans want to follow last month's Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by banning abortion entirely.
The 30-second ad, which is set to air through next Tuesday on cable channels in the Denver market, opens with images of national Republican and headlines describing the GOP's reaction to the June 24 ruling, including former Vice President Mike Pence saying, "We must not rest" until abortion is banned in every state.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appears on screen as the narrator recounts his remarks earlier this spring, before the high court's decision, suggesting that a national abortion ban is "possible."
DNC They Said It Themselves TV ad
"Republicans are celebrating ending a woman's right to choose, and they're not done yet," the ad's narrator says, adding: "Fifty years of women's rights, stripped away but the few but we are the many. We will fight for freedom, and we will not be silenced."
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican in line to become House speaker if the GOP takes the majority in the chamber in November, said recently that he would support putting a 15-week ban on abortion into federal law.
While McConnell earlier this year described a nationwide ban as "possible" if Roe were overturned, he said after the decision that he doubts either side can muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, leaving the question at the state level.
Democrats believe the ruling will shake up a midterm election that had looked like a slam dunk for Republicans, though Republicans predict the same issues they've been running on all year — inflation, the economy and crime — will dominate in November.
Airing in a dozen battleground states, the TV ad is part of the DNC's Defend Choice Week of Action and comes on the heels of a five-figure digital campaign that targets 18- to 55-year-old women with similar points, according to the Associated Press. The ads also promote a website aimed at organizing abortion-rights supporters.
“Republicans have made clear over and over again that overturning Roe v. Wade is just the beginning — they won’t stop until abortion is illegal in every state, including Colorado,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison in a statement to Colorado Politics.
“The DNC is making sure Coloradans know that Republicans are hellbent on banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. Republicans are trying to take away their rights, but we can fight back by organizing and working to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in Colorado this November.”
The two Republicans at the top of this year's ticket in Colorado have expressed more nuanced positions than the ones highlighted in the DNC's ads.
Joe O'Dea, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, and gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl, who hopes to deny Gov. Jared Polis a second term, have both said they support allowing abortion in some circumstances, though both say they oppose a Colorado law signed earlier this year by Polis that guarantees the right to an abortion and forbids local governments from imposing restrictions on the procedure.
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