California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new Campaign for Democracy ads are being called laughable — even “funnier than SNL [Saturday Night Live]” — as they depict unrealistic situations (women being essentially hunted down or tortured as they attempt to flee their states for abortion), and spread complete misinformation about state pro-life measures.
The pro-abortion media, however, doesn’t seem to care about this at all, calling the false ads “powerful” and “provocative” for “making a political point.”
The pro-abortion ads
One ad aimed at Tennessee features a frightened young woman handcuffed to a hospital bed and crying out for help. A female voice states, “Trump Republicans want to criminalize young women who travel to receive the reproductive care they need. Don’t let them hold Tennessee women hostage. Take action at RighttoTravel.org.”
See the “Hostage” ad in the video below, and note how even the news anchor reporting the story deceptively claims the bill “would restrict people from traveling out of state for abortions.” The emphases are added because all of these claims are false.
Here’s why.
Tennessee
In Tennessee, HB 1895, a bill that was recently advanced by the state Senate would prosecute (for a misdemeanor criminal act) any adult who “recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant un-emancipated minor” to obtain an abortion without the parent’s or guardian’s consent. The adult would face up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. The law does not apply to the minor or to a parent or guardian who takes the minor out of state for an abortion.
Alabama
Another ad, titled “Fugitive,” is aimed at Alabama and shows two young women racing for the state border only to be pulled over at the last minute by a police officer who asks the driver to take a pregnancy test and then arrests her for traveling while pregnant. A voice-over states, “Trump Republicans want to criminalize young Alabama women who travel for reproductive care. Stop them by taking action at RighttoTravel.org.” (Again, emphasis added because this is false.)
BREAKING: Gavin Newsom just released a new ad saying Trump is going to order police stop women crossing state lines and force them to take pregnancy tests pic.twitter.com/3mZf6NVOqL
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 22, 2024
While some commenters applauded this ad, others called it “funnier than SNL” and said, “This would never happen. So laughable.”
In Alabama, HB 378 would make taking a minor (read: child) to get an abortion out of state — without the parent or guardian’s knowledge — a Class A misemeanor. “[A]ny person, with the intent to conceal an abortion from a minor’s parents or guardian to harbor or transport a minor girl and obtain, or aid and abet her in obtaining, an abortion or abortion-inducing drug” could face a year in jail. Parents would have the ability to sue under the proposed law and the minor would not be punished. The law does not prevent a parent or guardian from taking a girl out of state for an abortion.
False and misleading
The ads are, of course, designed to scare women into voting a certain way — in favor of wide access to abortion and pro-abortion politicians like Newsom. But there’s no truth to these ads. And the media couldn’t care less.
The truth is that both Tennessee and Alabama are considering legislation aimed at protecting minors from being trafficked across state lines by a non-guardian for an abortion without parental consent.
Obviously, this is vastly different than what Newsom’s ads depict.
The ads are a stark deviation from Newsom’s other tactics, such as abortion tourism — attempting to draw abortion seekers to California to end the lives of their preborn children.
Protecting the vulnerable
Newsom’s group speaks of ‘young women’ wanting to travel for abortions rather than clearly stating who the laws seek to protect: minors.
“Minor” is a clear word — it means a person under the age of 18, and is the age group the proposed bills are meant to protect.
“Young people,” however, is the wording Newsom’s ads use because it sounds like “young adult” — which is defined as ages 18 to 26. “Young people” could include a wide age group that is left up to the imagination of each individual viewer.
But these bills aren’t talking about young adults; they are aimed at protecting children — but the point of the ads isn’t to be honest. Newsom has to misrepresent pro-life laws; without deception, the public might learn the truth about pro-life laws and about the humanity of preborn children.
No woman in any state is prevented from freely traveling for an abortion; however, non-custodial adults taking children across state lines for an abortion procedure or abortion pill, both of which carry serious health risks, is a serious concern.
One example is that of an Idaho women and her adult son who were arrested in November and charged with multiple felonies after they allegedly took a teenage girl for an abortion in Oregon without her parents’ knowledge or consent. The girl, who was just 15 years old, was pressured into the abortion though she was “happy” about the pregnancy.
The girl’s mother later learned about the out-of-state travel and abortion and filed a lawsuit.
In December 2023, Planned Parenthood staff members were caught during an undercover investigation sharing their active involvement in helping adults (who are not the parents) transport teen girls across state lines for abortions. As previously reported by Live Action News, an undercover video by Project Veritas (PV) shows a conversation between a woman identified as Lashauna — the Managing Director of Planned Parenthood in Kansas City, Missouri — and a male undercover investigator (who is off-screen). The male investigator inquires about obtaining an abortion for a 13-year-old girl, and admits that he doesn’t want the 13-year-old’s parents to find out.
Lashauna assures him, “We never tell,” and gives him information about two abortion businesses across state lines in Kansas.
Abortion funds file lawsuit
In 2023, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made several statements indicating that entities such as abortion funds might face prosecution for helping residents of the state to undergo abortions in a different state. Marshall seemed to be focusing on abortion funding groups that are collecting money to pay for women’s abortion-related travel rather than offering them financial assistance to raise their children. He said such actions could be viewed as conspiracy.
When the pro-abortion Yellowhammer Fund filed a lawsuit claiming that Marshall’s words violated their constitutional rights to free speech, due process, and the right to travel, Marshall fired back.
“If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortions out of state, then that is potentially criminally actionable for us,” he said. “One of the things we will do in working with local prosecutors is making sure that we fully implement this law. There’s nothing about that law that restricts any individual from driving across state lines and seeking an abortion in another place. However, I would say that if an individual held themselves out as an entity or a group that is using funds that they are able to raise to facilitate those visits, then that’s something we’re going to look at closely.” (emphasis added)
He added, “The criminal conduct is the agreement (the conspiracy) itself, which is conduct that occurs in Alabama that Alabama has every right to prosecute. Thus, the legality of abortion in other States is irrelevant to whether Alabama can prosecute a conspiracy formed in Alabama.”
The bottom line is that Newsom’s ads manipulate viewers into believing something that is false, in the hopes that they will vote a certain way to prevent such a made-up and unrealistic scenario from happening. Even the Washington Post has noted, “Abortion bans do not allow people seeking abortions to be prosecuted, targeting only doctors and others involved in facilitating the abortion.”
Newsom’s ads are not just deceptive; they’re maliciously false.
