As Hillary Clinton fights to gain a lead against Bernie Sanders in the Nevada polls, Planned Parenthood launched three ads this week to support the female Democratic candidate for president.
Each of the three 15-second ads shows a woman talking about how Clinton is the “champion for women’s health care.” One shows a woman holding a baby, and another shows a grandmother, mother and daughter holding hands. None of the ads mention abortion, though.
“Why so squeamish, Planned Parenthood?” National Review columnist Ramesh Ponnuru asked Wednesday after noticing the ads failed to mention Planned Parenthood’s No. 1 agenda.
Planned Parenthood does more abortions than any other group in the U.S. Of the services it offers to pregnant women, 92 percent are abortions. And Clinton, who Planned Parenthood endorsed in January, fully supports abortion for any reason up until birth.
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But the videos imply that even Planned Parenthood doesn’t think Clinton’s abortion position will win votes. Instead of abortion, the women in the ads mention less divisive issues like birth control and women’s health. The ads are meant to bolster Clinton’s struggling campaign amid distrust about her past political actions and disgust about her support of abortion for virtually any reason, including partial-birth abortion.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund website, which only avid abortion activists are likely to see, hints more directly at Clinton’s abortion policies in its post about the ads: “There’s no question: Hillary Clinton holds the strongest record on reproductive rights of all presidential contenders in not just this election, but in American history. She doesn’t just support women’s health – she has been a proactive leader on expanding access to women’s health care.”
Clinton has been a proactive supporter of the abortion giant, even promising to overturn the Hyde Amendment if elected. The amendment protects taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions through federal programs like Medicaid. It’s high on Planned Parenthood’s list of political priorities, but a strong majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion. So it should not come as any surprise that the new ads don’t mention it.
According to CNN, Clinton is struggling against Sanders, who also has a strong pro-abortion record. In Nevada, Clinton lost a 15-point lead ahead of Sanders in the polls. A new CNN poll shows Clinton just 1 point ahead of Sanders in Nevada.
