The Democratic National Committee rolled out a media blitz in Georgia ahead of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion.
The sweep of ads launched Wednesday includes a billboard in Atlanta highlighting President Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights that reads: “No to Republican abortion bans! Yes to a woman’s right to choose!”
Digital and TV ads are also part of the campaign, which officials say involves a six-figure ad purchase in Georgia and several other politically competitive states.
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Just as they did in last year’s midterm, Democrats hope that outrage over the court’s June 2022 decision reversing the Roe ruling will energize liberal supporters and help woo independent voters disgusted with Republican-backed abortion limits.
Gov. Brian Kemp and other state Republican leaders took a muted victory lap after last year’s decision, seeking to shift the focus to inflation and public safety, issues that Georgians consistently ranked among their top concerns.
Since then, Kemp and his allies haven’t pressed to go beyond the restrictions in Georgia’s 2019 law, which bans most abortions once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, typically about six weeks into a pregnancy.
Instead, they’ve said they are awaiting the outcome of a legal challenge still pending in the state Supreme Court, which will soon decide whether the law should remain in effect or whether it was illegal from the moment it was signed by Kemp.
Still, that doesn’t mean Republicans are running away from the ruling. Some key Republicans want lawmakers to consider new limits in 2024. State Sen. Ed Setzler, a sponsor of the state’s anti-abortion law, has predicted that recent health data that shows a drop in abortions in Georgia since last year will help galvanize conservatives.
Georgia is one of a handful of political battlegrounds in the 2024 race for the White House, and the ad barrage underscores how Democrats see the fight over abortion rights as a pillar of their campaign message.
“The stakes of this election could not be higher,” said DNC chair Jaime Harrison, “and President Biden and Vice President Harris are the only candidates who will fight to protect a woman’s right to choose.”
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