One of the biggest pro-abortion groups in the nation is delighted pro-abortion President Barack Obama put a revised mandate in place that forces insurance companies to provide women with free birth control and drugs that may cause abortions.
NARAL is so happy that it has purchased $250,000 worth of radio advertising supporting the new mandate. The ads are slated to air in Denver, Colorado; Orlando, Florida; Madison, Wisconsin and the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. All of the locations are prime 2012 election targets a pro-life advocates seek to replace Obama with a pro-life president.
“The radio effort builds on paid patch-through calls the organization launched last week in six states channeling calls to Senate offices opposing efforts to take away contraceptive coverage,” NARAL said in a statement. NARAl also rolled out a $45,000 online ad and recruitment plan, including ads on Facebook and Google to raise the visibility of the revised Obama mandate.
“The organization, in partnership with its state affiliate network, also will leverage the power of its 550,000-strong email network and social media to channel messages to Congress and counter the anti-contraception groups,” it said.
The ads begin today and NARAL president Nancy Keenan talked more about them.
“The American people are with President Obama and want Congress to back off its efforts to take away a woman’s ability to get insurance coverage of contraception without a copay,” Keenan said. “We want to make sure women know about this health-care win and let Congress know women want their birth control covered without a copay.”
Keenan complained that pro-life advocates in the House and Senate have announced plans to attack the mandate. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has offered an amendment to the transportation bill that is expected to be voted on as early as this week.
Keenan called the Blunt amendment “a far-reaching and extreme proposal” that would “completely undo” the mandate and saying, “The amendment would also go so far as to allow insurers to deny coverage” based on moral and religious views.
In addition, NARAL Pro-Choice America is a member of the Coalition to Protect Women’s Health Care, an umbrella organization comprised of more than 30 pro-abortion organizations. [related]
Listen to the ad. The text of the ad reads:
Jane Smith! Your prescription’s ready for pick-up at the pharmacy counter!
Thank you! That was fast. How much do I owe?
No charge. This is covered without a co-pay now.
Then a narrator says: “Thanks to President Obama, the 99 percent of American women who use birth control could now hear this same message. You see, we scored an important victory when the President stood up for our health care, and guaranteed insurance coverage of birth control at no cost. He’s making sure women of all faiths, no matter where they work, can get contraceptive coverage. But extremists in Congress are trying to change the policy by making it harder for women to get birth control with no co-pay. Call Congress at 202-225-3121 and tell them to stand with President Obama and not between a woman and her birth control.”
