Planned Parenthood Announces Seven-Figure Multimedia Ad Campaign Urging GOP Senators to “Protect Title X”

Seven-figure investment will fund TV, digital, radio, and mail campaign in Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina as government funding deadline looms

Washington, DC — With less than three weeks before the government funding deadline and as Congress is deep in appropriations negotiations, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced today a seven-figure investment in a Title X campaign with television ads, radio ads, digital ads, and targeted mailers in Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina. The campaign calls out Republican senators for failing to protect Title X — the bipartisan program that has provided affordable birth control and essential reproductive health services for nearly 50 years — and urges them to correct course to protect their constituents' access to health care.

The 30-second Action Fund television ad, “Protect Title X,” encourages viewers to call Sens. Martha McSally (R-AZ), Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) to demand they protect Title X in the devastating aftermath of the Trump administration’s gag rule — which forced Planned Parenthood and other health providers out of the program, threatening reproductive health care for millions of people. A 60-second radio spot in North Carolina, launched by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, warns that the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule disproportionately harms Black women, who already face delayed diagnoses and increased mortality rates for cervical and breast cancer due to barriers — which often includes structural racism in the medical industry that can stand in the way of accessing quality, affordable health care. The radio spot also encourages listeners to visit ProtectX.org to learn more.

The paid campaign aims to reach and mobilize key communities, such as Black women in North Carolina and the Latinx community in Arizona, that have been hit the hardest by the Trump administration’s attacks on sexual and reproductive health care programs, including Title X.

This multimedia campaign is just the latest effort from Planned Parenthood and grassroots supporters across the country to raise awareness and to protect access to birth control and reproductive health care under Title X. Last month, patients and provider advocates stormed Capitol Hill to meet with legislators, and also joined reproductive health champions in Congress to talk about the importance of blocking the Trump administration’s gag rule. And over every major recess in the last several months, local Planned Parenthood organizations and supporters have organized hundreds of grassroots events to protect Title X.

In June, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), with the support of the Pro-Choice Caucus and an historic pro-reproductive health majority in the House of Representatives, led passage of appropriations bills that repeal both the Title X and global gag rules. Senate Republican Leaders have so far refused to do the same. In September, a scheduled vote in the Senate was abruptly cancelled on a spending bill because Sen. Murray (D-WA) planned to ask for a vote to reverse the harmful Title X gag rule.

Recent polling shows that people in key swing congressional districts nationwide oppose the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule, and are less likely to support legislators who don’t do whatever they can to reverse it.

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy and electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men, and young people, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education. With more than 600 health centers across the country, Planned Parenthood organizations serve all patients with care and compassion, with respect and without judgment. Through health centers, programs in schools and communities, and online resources, Planned Parenthood is a trusted source of reliable health information that allows people to make informed health decisions. We do all this because we care passionately about helping people lead healthier lives.