The 2024 general election is set to be one of the most important in modern history, and both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Planned Parenthood are preparing to launch campaigns in a very important swing state: North Carolina.
The DNC has put up 16 billboards in both Spanish and English, spread across Charlotte and Wilmington. So far, this is the largest number of billboards the committee has launched in response to former president Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump is responsible for the attacks on reproductive rights that we’re seeing in North Carolina and across the nation,” DNC spokesperson Jackie Bush said in an interview with The Hill. “His anti-freedom agenda is already endangering the lives of women in North Carolina, but Trump and his cronies won’t stop until every woman across the country lives under an extreme national abortion ban. That’s why women in North Carolina and across the country will reject Trump’s extreme bans at the ballot box this November and send President Joe Biden back to the White House.”
The ad campaign from the DNC comes after Trump refused to take a position on a potential federal ban, claiming the decision regarding abortion access should be left to each of the states.
“We don’t need it any longer. Because we broke Roe v. Wade, and we did something that nobody thought was possible,” Trump said. “We gave it back to the states. And the states are working very brilliantly, in some cases conservative, in some cases not conservative. But they’re working and it’s working the way it’s supposed to.”
Planned Parenthood is also launching a $10 million campaign in North Carolina focusing on electing candidates in favor of reproductive rights and abortion access. The campaign is designed to have a grassroots approach, with many organizers knocking on doors across the state as a part of Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic, Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action PAC NC. The New York Times reported this was the “largest-ever investment in a single state” from the group.
North Carolina currently allows abortions up to 12 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy, and though there isn’t an amendment regarding abortion on the ballot this November, the reversal of Roe v. Wade has made abortion access a top priority for voters.