California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s super PAC launched a misleading television ad in Tennessee on Friday, which uses fearmongering to spread misconceptions about a proposed bill designed to keep minors from being trafficked out of state for abortions without parental consent.
The ad from Campaign for Democracy is titled “Hostage” and depicts a pregnant minor, who appears to have been sexually assaulted, handcuffed to a hospital bed, screaming. The narrator of the video tells viewers, “Trump Republicans want to criminalize young women who travel to receive the reproductive care they need. Don’t let them hold Tennessee women hostage.”
WATCH:
The advertisement appears to be an effort to paint the proposed legislation as a bill that would criminalize young girls who go out of state for abortions. To the contrary, the proposed bill (House Bill 1895 and its companion Senate Bill 1971) would outlaw “recruit[ing], harbor[ing], or transport[ing] a pregnant unemancipated minor” within the state for the purpose of concealing a criminal abortion from parents or guardians, procuring an act that would constitute a criminal abortion regardless of where it is procured, or obtaining abortion drugs for the minor for a criminal abortion. A violation of the law would be a Class C felony.
The proposed “abortion trafficking” bill is similar to efforts in other Republican-led states, including Idaho, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. Newsom’s super PAC is planning to run similar ads in other states where abortion travel restrictions are being considered, NBC News reported.
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“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,” Newsom claimed in a Meet the Press interview Saturday.
The initial six-figure buy on broadcast, cable, and digital platforms is Newsom’s latest effort to undermine states with laws aimed at protecting unborn babies from being killed via abortion.
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In September of 2023, Newsom signed a bill that shields abortionists who mail abortion pills to pro-life states from being prosecuted. In February of 2023, Newsom also led 20 Democrat governors in an alliance to promote abortions in their states.
Most notably, Newsom’s campaign paid to promote abortion tourism via public billboards in seven Republican states in September of 2022. Some of those billboards misused the words of Jesus from the New Testament of the Bible to market the Golden State as an abortion destination: “‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ – Mark 12:31.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.