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'Terrifying' Ad Shows Deadly Impact of GOP Abortion Bans
The ad was released as Americans learn of a growing number of women who have died because doctors would not provide standard miscarriage and abortion care under state abortion bans.
Nov 03, 2024
"Dr. Davis, what do I do?" asks a man frantically, kneeling near his partner as she writhes in pain on the floor.
"John, she needs an abortion, or she's going to die from the pregnancy," answers the doctor over the phone.
But a Republican congressman suddenly appears and tells the man, "That's not happening," explaining that abortion care is now banned because the GOP is in control of the government.
The scenario plays out in the latest ad from Progress Action Fund, a Democratic political action committee that's produced a number of viral videos focusing on how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's policies and those outlined in the right-wing agenda Project 2025 would impact both men and women's ability to make private decisions.
In the ad, the Republican lawmaker tells the man, "I won the last election, so it's my decision" whether the woman is able to receive the standard care needed to end her pregnancy.
"Don't worry, you can still have children," he tells the man. "Just not with her."
Watch:
The ad went viral on social media late Saturday, the day after ProPublica reported on Nevaeh Crain, an 18-year-old in Texas who died last year at six months pregnant, when she was diagnosed with sepsis—a fast-moving and potentially deadly condition that can result from an infection.
Because of Texas' six-week abortion ban, which threatens doctors with prison time if they terminate a pregnancy before a fetal heartbeat has stopped, Crain made three emergency room visits and was required to have multiple ultrasounds as she became increasingly ill. By the time doctors confirmed "fetal demise," Crain's organs had begun failing. She died hours later.
The investigative outlet has also reported on the deaths of another woman in Texas—Josseli Barnica—and two women in Georgia, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller—from state abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
"This is a healthcare crisis and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis," said Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, after the two Georgia women's deaths came to light in September.
Abortion bans and restrictions like those in Texas now exist in 21 states. Both Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) have expressed support for a nationwide ban on abortion care—a position from which they have both attempted to distance themselves as polls have increasingly shown a majority of voters support access to abortion care.
Other viral ads by Progress Action Fund have been more risqué and have even used absurdist humor to warn voters about Project 2025's proposal to ban pornography and emergency contraception.
With two days to go until Election Day, the "terrifying but important" ad released Saturday shows that "MAGA abortion bans are killing our wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters," said nonprofit progressive advocacy group DemCast.
"They're willing to risk your wife's heartbeat," said Eleven Films, a progressive film production company. "Are you?"
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Ad Featuring Orgasm, Broken Condom, and Plan B Shows How MAGA Is Bad For Men, Too
"The only way to guarantee our right to privacy is to vote for Democrats," said one advocacy group. "They have no interest in forcing guys to be dads before they are ready."
Oct 31, 2024
With just five days until the U.S. elections, Democrats are continuing to highlight another presidential term for Republican nominee Donald Trump as a grave danger for women, as the nation learns about a growing number of women who have died because of abortion bans and voters in 10 states make their voices heard on proposed measures to protect abortion rights.
But a provocative ad that went viral on social media Thursday makes the case that men should be worried about letting the far-right MAGA movement take control of the White House and Congress, too.
The ad, by the Democratic political action committee Progress Action Fund, opens with a young man and woman having sex.
Just afterward, the man says he's realized the condom he was using broke.
"Oh, I have Plan B in the bathroom," replies the woman, referring to the emergency contraception pill approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999.
Her partner offers to get the pill, but makes another troubling realization as soon as he closes the medicine cabinet.
"Sorry," says a balding man who's appeared in the bathroom. "You can't use that... I'm your Republican congressman. Now that we're in charge, we banned Plan B."
"No, you can't do this," pleads the young man. "I can't have a kid right now!"
But the lawmaker explains that since he won the last election, whether or not the young couple has a child is no longer their decision.
"It's my decision," he says. "Now let's get back in there so we can give her the news... Daddy."
The nonprofit progressive advocacy group DemCast said the ad was one "every man in America" needs to see.
"The only way to guarantee our right to privacy is to vote for Democrats," said the group. "They have no interest in forcing guys to be dads before they are ready."
The production company Eleven Films said the ad provides a new perspective on the idea that "MAGA wants to control everything about you. Including when you can have a baby."
"Yeah, bro," said the organization. "Even you."
Nick Knudsen, co-founder and executive director of DemCast, said that the ad, "when tested, moves under-30-men by 2+ points away from Donald Trump."
Common Dreams was unable to independently verify the claim as of this writing.
Political action committee Defend the Vote said it had partnered with Progress Action Fund to air the ad in battleground states.
"There are only a few days left in the election," said the group. "Get out and vote to protect your freedoms!"
Democratic strategist Alicia Strohl Resnicoff said the ad and its reminder that the Republican Party aims to attack reproductive freedom, including the right to abortion care as well as contraception, "is the scariest thing you see today."
The ad was originally released on YouTube in mid-October, four months after Republicans in the Senate blocked consideration of the Right to Contraception Act. In 2022, when the right-majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should also review the precedent set by Griswold v. Connecticut, which affirmed in 1965 that couples have the right to use contraceptives.
Progress Action Fund has produced a number of ads exposing Republicans' plans to invade the privacy of people across the U.S. Last week the group posted one featuring the same "Republican congressman," who appears in a man's bedroom and snatches his phone out of his hands to stop him from watching a pornographic video. Project 2025, the far-right agenda that was co-authored by at least 140 of people from Trump's presidential term, proposes a nationwide ban on pornography.
"Creepy Republicans want control of your bedroom," said Eleven Films on Thursday. "Don't let MAGA in your sheets."
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