California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday announced a multi-state ad campaign to counter proposals in several Republican-controlled states to ban out-of-state travel for abortions and related medications. .
The six-figure ad campaign and online petition drive is scheduled to begin Monday, starting with television ads targeting the bill being considered in Tennessee. In the state, eight Republican male state legislators are the lead co-sponsors of a bill that would create a felony called “abortion trafficking,” allowing adults to terminate an abortion or early pregnancy without their parents or parental consent. Makes it a crime to assist a minor in obtaining drugs for personal use. Legal guardian. The bill would also allow civil lawsuits for the “wrongful death of an aborted fetus.”
Similar bills are being considered in several states that ban or severely restrict abortion, including Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama. Mr. Newsom plans to counter them with RightToTravel.org, an initiative paid for by the National Political Action Committee, which he launched last spring with $10 million from state campaign funds. He said the effort, dubbed the “Campaign for Democracy,” is aimed at boosting Democrats and countering radically conservative Republican policies.
“We cannot let the Trump Republican Party hold women hostage,” Newsom said in a news release announcing his campaign. “These abortion travel bans are another sick and twisted attempt by the far right to control women and take away their freedoms. We must fight back.”
one major sponsor of Tennessee state banknotes, Republican state Rep. Jason Zachary said his goal is to protect parents' rights to make medical decisions regarding their children. He pointed out that children should not be given aspirin or COVID-19 vaccinations without their parents' consent.
“This bill protects the rights of parents and prevents adults from preying on vulnerable minors who may be pregnant,” Zachary said. last week's public hearing.
Zachary also said the bill does not seek to restrict interstate travel, which is a federal jurisdiction over which Tennessee lawmakers have no control, but only the transportation of minors within Tennessee. Ta.
Tennessee is one of the states that bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, meaning most pregnant women seeking an abortion have few options in the state. .
Opponents of the “abortion trafficking” bill say its purpose is to cut off the ability to seek an abortion in states where abortion rights are protected, and one of Zachary's Republican colleagues said during the hearing that I repeated my understanding.
Zachary faced critical questions from Democratic lawmakers, but he said the most trusted adults in a young person's life may not be their parents, but grandparents and other relatives, teachers, nurses, and pastors, and that He pointed out that if you try to help someone with a problem that doesn't exist, you could be charged with a felony. pregnancy.
Newsom's new ad, titled “Hostage,” depicts a tearful young woman handcuffed to a hospital bed with a “sexual assault evidence collection kit” on a nearby table. she cries for her help.
“Trump Republicans want to criminalize young women who travel to receive necessary reproductive health care,” the narrator says. “Don’t let the women of Tennessee be held hostage.”
