Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom’s super PAC, Campaign for Democracy, launched a series of pro-abortion TV ads, accusing conservative representatives of holding women hostage by restricting travel for abortion.
The ad premiered on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in Tennessee and depicted a young woman handcuffed to a hospital bed, crying out for assistance. Over this image, a voiceover alerts viewers, saying, “Trump Republicans want to criminalize young women who travel to receive the reproductive care they need. Don’t let them hold Tennessee women hostage.” The series of ads is part of a six-figure deal on cable, broadcast, and digital platforms that will expand to other red states like Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi.
The advertisement encourages viewers to take action and guides them to a website that features a petition opposing bans on traveling for abortions. The site also offers various methods for individuals to actively oppose such legislation.
Newsom launched the ads in response to proposed legislation in Tennessee that could make it a felony, with potential imprisonment of up to 15 years, for adults to assist pregnant minors in obtaining an abortion in another state without the consent of their parents, an act the bill refers to as “abortion trafficking.”
Newsom appeared on NBC saying, “These guys are not just restricting the rights, self-determination to bear a child for a young woman…But they’re also determining their fate as it relates to their future in life by saying they can’t even travel…We need to be even more aggressive, I would argue. And that’s what this ad represents.”
This isn’t the first time Newsom has launched advertisements to advance his radical pro-choice agenda in other states. Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Governor Newsom secured billboard space in numerous states governed by Republicans, some blasphemously referencing the Bible.
“Newsom’s ‘reproductive rights’ campaign is a shocking display of moral bankruptcy, deceitfully blending shock tactics with falsehoods,” said Greg Burt, Vice President of the California Family Council. “These ads wrongfully suggest that safeguarding the lives of minors and the unborn is akin to stripping away women’s freedoms. Contrary to Newsom’s portrayal, Tennessee’s proposed legislation, which he inaccurately brands as ‘holding women hostage,’ is actually about fortifying family involvement in pivotal life decisions, ensuring a protective framework around vulnerable young women.”
Seeking an abortion is a sign of desperation, not freedom, as Newsom suggests. In fact, abortion only enslaves women to a life of deep pain and regret. To help women in crisis pregnancy situations be truly free, California leaders should promote crisis pregnancy centers that offer free, life-affirming resources, and remove obstacles in the way of women feeling equipped to care for their children.
Despite Newsom’s efforts to force his radical pro-abortion agenda onto red states, the pro-life movement achieved a tremendous victory recently when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that every human embryo, whether in or outside the womb, is a precious life worthy of protection. Hopefully, this ruling will prompt other state legislators to take action against policies and reproductive technologies that treat human lives as expendable.
