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Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell drew fire from Republicans after he released a new ad claiming the GOP wants women to get arrested for having abortions.
The ad opens with a family sitting around the dinner table and a knock at the door. Two cops stand outside claiming to have a warrant for the mother’s arrest for ‘unlawful termination of a pregnancy.’
‘That’s my personal business,’ the woman says. ‘That’s for the courts to decide,’ the police said.
The mother is then arrested at gunpoint while her children are crying and her husband protests.
‘Elections have consequences. Vote Democrat on November 8th,’ the ad says. ‘Stop Republicans from criminalizing abortion everywhere.’
‘MAGA Republicans want women arrested for having an abortion. This is what that looks like. #LockHerUp,’ Swalwell said in a tweet accompanying the video.
The ad was ill-received by conservatives, many of whom have been careful to avoid pushing for consequences for the woman who obtains the abortion.
Two cops stand outside claiming to have a warrant for the mother’s arrest for ‘unlawful termination of a pregnancy’
‘That’s my personal business,’ the woman says. ‘That’s for the courts to decide,’ the police said
The mother is then arrested at gunpoint while her children are crying and her husband protests
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill, which would ban abortion at 15 weeks, prohibits doctors from performing the procedure but does not include penalties on a woman seeking an abortion.
Former President Trump in March 2016, then new to the anti-abortion movement, was roundly mocked by pro-life activists for saying there should be ‘some sort of punishment’ for women who illegally obtain abortions.
Then-rival Ted Cruz clobbered him for the remark: ‘Once again Donald Trump has demonstrated that he hasn’t seriously thought through the issues, and he’ll say anything just to get attention,’ he said in a statement. ‘Of course we shouldn’t be talking about punishing women; we should affirm their dignity and the incredible gift they have to bring life into the world.’
In 2019 Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, then a state senator, said women should be charged with murder for obtaining illegal abortions, but has since distanced himself from the comments and claimed his personal views are ‘irrelevant’ because the legislature has to write the laws.
‘The only take away I get from this is Eric Swalwell has an incredibly insulting, despicable, hateful view of law enforcement,’ conservative radio talk show host Larry O’Connor said of the new ad. ‘Eric Swalwell is a garbage human being.’
‘I don’t think there is a single Republican candidate running for national office that has suggested arresting women for having abortions. Oh well. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!’ said Ben Kew, editor of bilingual conservative platform El American.
Some Democrats, however, were moved by the ad.
‘This ad is chilling. I hope everyone watches it and takes the message to heart,’ New York City public defender Eliza Orlins wrote on Twitter.
‘MAGA Republicans want women arrested for having an abortion. This is what that looks like. #LockHerUp,’ Rep. Eric Swalwell said in a tweet accompanying the video
‘This is the most powerful ad I have seen,’ Fred Guttenberg, an activist whose daughter died in the Parkland shooting, wrote on Twitter.
‘ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES! No election in our lifetime will be more consequential than this. WHEN YOU VOTE, MAKE SURE YOU VOTE ON THE REAL ISSUES THAT WILL AFFECT US FOREVER. VOTE DEMOCRAT ONLY!’
Swalwell is running for reelection in California’s 14th District, a safe Democratic seat.
Republicans, however, are favored to take back control in his chamber.
Democrats had hoped the overturning of Roe v. Wade would offer them a political boon in the midterm elections.
A New York Times/Sienna College poll released Monday found only 5 percent of likely voters say abortion is the top issue facing this country. Twenty-six percent say the economy is the top issue and another 18 percent say inflation.
Democratic candidates, the party’s campaign arm the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and affiliated super PACS have spent over $18 million airing more than 100 abortion-focus broadcast TC ads in four dozen battleground regions, according to data from media tracking firm AdImpact obtained by Politico.
That sum is three times more than what Democrats spent on abortion ads during the entire 2018 general election.
At least seven super PACS have focused their message on abortion rights, as has the DCCC. Outside groups have dedicated more than 40 percent of their total broadcast TV spending to abortion ads, according to AdImpact.
The ads largely paint Republicans as extremists who want to take away rights for half of the country, meanwhile, Republicans are shying away from the matter, keeping focus on crime, inflation and the border.
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