October 7, 2016

Here’s What Trump’s Sexist Views Mean for the War on Women

This new ad targets women in swing states.


Donald Trump’s positions on women’s issues, previous statements about women, and long history of sexism have become central issues about his character during his campaign for the presidency. A new ad will go after the GOP candidate’s position on abortion by using his own words against him.

Planned Parenthood Votes and Priorities USA Action, the main super-PAC supporting the Hillary Clinton campaign, have created a new digital ad that will play as preroll footage on web videos, as well as on Facebook and Instagram. This is part of a larger ad campaign aimed at women in North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, key swing states in the presidential contest.

The effort comes as the Trump campaign tries to push back against accusations that the Republican presidential candidate is sexist. During a Wednesday interview with a Las Vegas NBC affiliate, Trump addressed his history of demeaning statements toward women, saying that “a lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment.”

The ad also appears days after the only vice presidential debate of the campaign cycle, where Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said that he “cannot conscience a party that supports” abortion. Pence, who recently said he wants to “send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history,” has signed several pieces of extreme anti-abortion legislation during his time as the governor of Indiana, including a bill that required that aborted fetuses be cremated or buried.  

The ad opens with Trump’s now infamous exchange with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, in which he said, “There has to be some form of punishment” for women who get abortions, adding that he wanted to ban the procedure. The video also shows footage of Trump discussing his pro-life background and his desire to see Planned Parenthood defunded. “Donald Trump is too dangerous for women,” the video concludes.

“This is the most anti-woman ticket we’ve seen in decades. Donald Trump would ban abortion, defund Planned Parenthood, and even make it more difficult to access birth control,” Deirdre Schifeling, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement. “We will not let Mike Pence and Donald Trump strip rights away from the women of America.”

The digital ads will run from October 10 through Election Day.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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