Planned Parenthood is preparing a seven-figure campaign to oust GOP incumbents from California's congressional seats, part of a larger national effort by reproductive rights group to prevent a Republican majority from passing restrictions on abortion, including a national ban.
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is targeting eight districts where voters overwhelmingly backed Republicans in 2022 despite passing a constitutional amendment enshrining access to abortion and contraception. The advertising plan is negative by focusing on each incumbent's anti-abortion and contraceptive access record. In the past, the group discussed the “Burn Book” from the 2004 comedy “Mean Girls.”
GOP officials said they were confident voters in those districts would look at the big picture and return Republicans to office. And one headline dismissed the idea that there is a threat to reproductive care in the Golden State.
“Access to abortion and other reproductive care is nowhere to be found in California,” said Calvin Moore, spokesman for Representative Ken Calvert of Riverside County. “Congressman Calvert believes this is a deeply personal issue that should be left to the states and opposes a national ban on abortion.”
With 52 seats, liberal California could tip the scales for control of the US House this fall. But Planned Parenthood has its work cut out for it, as seven of the seats it's targeting are currently held by Republicans and only one, which will leave it vacant. Democrat Katie Porter after an unsuccessful bid for US Senate: It's open.
According to The Cook Political Report, four are draw races; Rep. Michelle Steel's district, mostly in Orange County, leans Republican; and Reps. Kevin Kiley, who represents a district along California's eastern border, and Young Kim, who represents a district east of Anaheim, are likely to win.
Abortion has proven to be one biggest issue for many voters than political analysts could have predicted. “In a lot of these seats, I think voters care about their reproductive freedoms and resonate with our message, so we think we're going to win,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
While Planned Parenthood focuses on House races, Hicks said it is also monitoring neighboring states. A California branch, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, extends to Reno, Nevada, and its advocacy arm has been supporting a Nevada ballot initiative that constitutionally protects Nevadans' abortion rights.
Nationally, the group plans to spend $40 million in at least eight states: Arizona, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In California, Planned Parenthood aims to highlight the record of members of Congress like Kiley, who voted to impose prison terms on doctors who perform abortions. Calvert, Kim, Steel and Reps. Mike Garcia, D-North Los Angeles County, and David Valadao, D-Central Valley, voted against access to birth control. And Garcia, Valadao and Steel co-sponsored a bill to effectively ban abortion nationwide.
Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, who serves on the board of directors of the California Republican Party, said many Californians do not trust Democrats to protect their rights to health care, even as political leaders give support for abortion to be legal, and noted that under the Democrats maternity hospitals have closed and hospitals have closed. declared bankruptcy.
“Democrats don't have a great record in California right now on women's health issues,” Gallagher said. “So I think it rings a little hollow.”
According to a February KFF poll on abortion as a 2024 election issue, about half of Republican voters who support making it legal trust their own party more, while 8% trust the Party more democrat One in three said they do not trust any political party on this issue.
Ivy Cargile, an associate professor of political science at California State University, Bakersfield, said it can be tricky to galvanize voters on the issue because many Californians trust that their reproductive rights are protected in the deep blue state. “Voters might be thinking that California is so progressive, so reproductive rights are safe,” Cargile said. “But federal law trumps state law.”
Planned Parenthood will impress upon Central Valley and Southern California voters that sticking with Republicans risks a national abortion ban. A large part of her ad campaign will focus on connecting the dots for voters, arguing that support for reproductive rights requires voting for Democratic candidates.
“California is so critical to making sure we're winning nationally,” Hicks said.
Gallagher said the GOP's focus on inflation and public safety will resonate with voters in California's more conservative districts. He and Calvert predict the races will mirror what happened in 2022: While voters supported the reproductive rights constitutional amendment, they supported incumbent Republicans, even those who were against the 'abortion.
KFF Health News spoke with six voters in Garcia's district who say they support abortion access, but tend to vote for Republican candidates. All six planned to vote for Garcia's re-election.
Rose Large of Santa Clarita said that while she supports abortion rights, she has deeper concerns with the Democratic Party's leadership on issues such as the economy and border control. Others cited fears of increased crime and wanting to protect Second Amendment rights.
Asked if she believed Planned Parenthood's campaign would influence her or the voters in her district, Large said, “Personally, no. No.”
This article was produced by KFF Health Newsa national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of the core operating programs a KFF — the independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism. KFF Health News is the publisher of California Healthlinea service editorially independent of the California Health Care Foundation.
