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Planned Parenthood Action Fund Announces ‘Women Are Watching’ Electoral Campaign

The massive campaign will take a pro-active approach to campaigning on women's health issues in several key 2014 midterm races.

The massive campaign will take a pro-active approach to campaigning on women's health issues in several key 2014 midterm races. Women Are Watching / Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political and advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood, announced Friday that it will launch a large campaign to play offense on issues of reproductive health in the 2014 midterm elections.

The “Women Are Watching” campaign, which Planned Parenthood Action Fund first launched in 2011 to “put lawmakers and politicians on notice,” will re-launch this year as the advocacy group’s largest campaign yet. Politico reports that the campaign is expected to cross the $18 million mark.

The campaign will spend in at least 14 states and focus on six key races: the U.S. Senate races in North Carolina, Montana, and Alaska and the gubernatorial races in Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

The group points to Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial victory in Virginia last fall as evidence that women’s votes on reproductive choice issues can make or break campaigns, and that candidates should not shy away from vocal, proactive support for women’s rights.

Campaign messaging pits reproductive “champs” like Wendy Davis, Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Texas, and Kay Hagan, U.S. Senate candidate in North Carolina, against their “chump” opponents, Greg Abbott and Thom Tillis, respectively.

“We know that women’s health is a winning issue and that no candidate will be able to win without a plurality of women,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a statement. “Our message to candidates that demean and dismiss women is clear: do so at your own peril.”