Planned Parenthood is spending big bucks to attack Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after his misstatement about punishing women who have abortions.
According to Slate, the abortion giant is partnering with the super PAC Priorities USA, which supports Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, to launch the attack ad. The groups plan to spend five figures on the ads, which will target women in Florida, Ohio and Washington, D.C. on Facebook and Instagram, the report states.
The 30-second ad shows a clip of Trump’s controversial remark about punishing women who have abortions when abortion becomes illegal again, according to The Hill.
“We have too much to lose to let him win,” the ad says. “Vote for Hillary.”
The leaders of the two wealthy PACs also attacked Trump and pro-lifers in statements to The Hill.
“Donald Trump’s vile assertion that women should be punished for having an abortion is the latest example of just how demeaning, insulting and dangerous he really is for women across this country,” Anne Caprara, Priorities USA Executive Director, said in a statement.
“Donald Trump’s clear disregard for women’s health and lives is staggering,” said Deirdre Schifeling, Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood PAC.
Trump made his original statements during an interview Wednesday with MSNBC, which is no friend to pro-lifers. Host Chris Matthews asked Trump if he thought women should be punished for having abortions if abortion becomes illegal again. Trump responded that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who get abortions.
SIGN THE PLEDGE! We Oppose Hillary Clinton!
After facing harsh backlash from pro-life and pro-abortion groups alike, Trump took back his original statement and said he believes abortion doctors should be punished, not women. A Trump spokeswoman later called the remark a “simple misspeak.”
While pro-life advocates yearn for the day when unborn children are protected under law and abortions are banned, the pro-life movement has historically opposed punishing women who have abortions — instead focusing on holding abortion practitioners criminally accountable for the unborn children they kill in abortions.
But that hasn’t stopped pro-abortion candidate Hillary Clinton and abortion activists from manipulating Trump’s initial comments to misrepresent the whole pro-life movement as unfeeling women haters.
Clinton and her supporters have largely focused on ads against Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in the primary, but Clinton and her supporters apparently thought this controversy was too good not to capitalize on. According to Slate, this ad buy will be the first money the two pro-Clinton, pro-abortion PACs spend against Trump. In addition, Clinton’s campaign has already suggested that if Trump faces Clinton in the general election, the pro-abortion candidate will attack him as a misogynist, Slate reports.
The attack against pro-lifers is exactly what many pro-life leaders feared would happen after Trump’s initial remark. On Twitter, leading pro-life advocates collectively face-palmed and were quick to point out the ineptitude of Trump’s comments, saying they make him look as if he is not genuinely pro-life:
An example of his profound ignorance doing damage to the movement he’s pretending to support. https://t.co/jOUi1sEXuB
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 30, 2016
Only someone who has no idea what it means to be pro-life and doesn’t know pro-lifers would propose this. https://t.co/uuhDw4WjeD — Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) March 30, 2016
Couldn’t agree more. Not mainstream, or really anyone I know who is pro-life. https://t.co/EtpQwZiMbl
— Jeanne F. Mancini (@jeannemfl) March 30, 2016
The Blaze reported that “the position that women should be punished for an abortion isn’t one held by any mainstream pro-life group and is unpopular among pro-life activists,” and referenced this poll
Even among pro-lifers, this is not a popular stance. (Fact that it hasn’t been asked in 26 years says something…) pic.twitter.com/UXoyffQv0o — Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) March 30, 2016
The unfortunate reality is that the mainstream media allows extreme pro-abortion candidates like Clinton to get away with supporting abortion for basically any reason, even on viable, late-term babies, but badgers pro-life candidates with constant gotcha questions.
Amid all the backlash against Trump, the mainstream media has failed to acknowledge how Clinton has radical stance on abortion that is out of touch with most Americans. If elected, Clinton has promised to overturn the Hyde Amendment, forcing Americans to fund abortions with tax dollars; and she openly opposes restrictions on late-term abortions when babies are viable outside the womb. Most Americans don’t stand with Clinton on these issues, and probably would be horrified if they learned the truth.
