Biden's $25M ad campaign targets Republicans' position on abortion; pro-life groups respond

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, August 28, 2023

Pro-life organizations are criticizing a new advertisement released by President Joe Biden's re-election campaign targeting his potential Republican rivals' positions on abortion.

The ad, published on YouTube Friday and titled "These Guys," is part of a 16-week, $25 million advertising campaign targeting swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The campaign ads will air on broadcast and cable television programming, including NFL games and the World Series.

The advertisement opens with a narrator declaring, "Reproductive health care decisions are among the most personal a woman will ever make," adding, "They are choices that you and your doctor should make."

The video then airs several of the statements made by the Republican contenders on the abortion issue, including former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

The narrator asserts: "The last people who should be involved [in making decisions about abortion] are these guys."

The video shows Trump talking about how "I'm the one who got rid of Roe v. Wade," the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The Supreme Court overruled Roe in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organizationruling in June 2022, determining that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.

Additionally, the ad displays a headline noting that DeSantis, considered Trump's most serious contender for the Republican nomination, signed a six-week abortion ban into law. It also shows the presidential candidate defending the move at last week's Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.

The ad then shows Scott vowing to "literally sign the most conservative, pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress" and Trump telling then-MSNBC host Chris Matthews that "there has to be some form of punishment" for women who have abortions in a clip from 2016.

The video concludes with the narrator assuring viewers, "President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris are determined to restore Roe v. Wade and they will never allow a national abortion ban to become law." The ad insisted that "as long as they are in office, decisions about your body will be made by you, not by them."

Pro-life groups reacted to the ad's premise that Republicans have an "extreme" position on abortion by calling the Democratic Party's position on the issue extreme.

In a statement, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser lamented, "President Biden is spending millions of dollars on campaign ads attacking his GOP opponents on abortion."

"Tellingly, Biden's ad never states a single limit he would support — not even to protect babies from brutal late-term abortions after they can feel pain, a standard over 70% of Americans including many rank-and-file Democrats favor," she added. She recalled how "Biden used to embrace commonsense limits on abortion based on science" before expressing disgust that "he and his party are fully in lock step with the radical abortion lobby position of abortion on demand at any time for any reason, paid for by the taxpayer."

Dannenfelser stated that "Americans deserve to know where all candidates stand" on abortion, saying that the ad skirted around the Biden administration's authentic position on the issue.

"Everyone should be asking where the Democrats draw the line — is it 38, 39 weeks?" she asked. Dannenfelser took issue with the absence of "any mention of how the country can come together to support mother and child" from the video.

"Women want to hear the president's plan to ensure they can access tangible resources, including financial help, so they never feel forced into unwanted abortions," she asserted. "Will Democrats support critical relief for moms like the Providing for Life Act? Or will they continue to demonize pregnancy centers and other life-affirming nonprofits while pushing pills and surgery as a cure-all instead? This callous 'solution' of killing the child fails to address many of the core problems experienced by pregnant women."

The activist said that "it is time" for Democrats to face "real questions on these issues" and be "honest with the American people."

The advocacy organization CatholicVote also criticized the ad. The group took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to claim that the president is doubling down on "his extreme abortion campaign pledge."

@POTUS doubles down on his extreme abortion campaign pledge. A "Catholic" president supports destroying innocent lives for any reason, at any time, paid for by taxpayers. Zero restrictions includes late term abortions, aborting babies that feel pain, even killing babies that…
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) August 25, 2023

"A 'Catholic' president supports destroying innocent lives for any reason, at any time, paid for by taxpayers," the CatholicVote tweet states. "Zero restrictions includes late term abortions, aborting babies that feel pain, even killing babies that survive an abortion. Women deserve better than to be used as a pawn in a political campaign."

The Biden campaign's ad targeted to voters in swing states comes as Republicans and Democrats have embraced divergent federal policy proposals following the Dobbs decision.

While the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women's Health Protection Act last year, it failed in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate. The bill has not been brought up in the U.S. House in the 118th Congress now that it is controlled by Republicans.

While Democrats tout the measure as a codification of Roe, Dannenfelser characterizes it as "an extreme bill forcing abortion on demand up until birth on all 50 states, even painful late-term abortions."

Biden called for the abolition of the filibuster, which requires most legislation to receive 60 votes to pass the bill in the U.S. Senate.

If Democrats win the presidency and regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and increase their majority in the U.S. Senate next year, they are expected to pass the Women's Health Protection Act and work to abolish the filibuster in order to do so.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a bill that would ban all abortions at 15 weeks gestation last year. The legislation did not gain traction and is not expected to pass as long as Democrats control the U.S. Senate and Biden remains in the White House.

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]