Planned Parenthood is launching a major campaign against Donald Trump, but that’s not where its plans end. The organization will spend nearly $30 million in 2016, seeking to establish an advantage by reaching “swing women” who value reproductive health care but don’t reliably vote for Democrats. And it’s not just about the White House. The campaign will also focus on the state level, where so many attacks on Planned Parenthood have been carried out:
Indeed, this training seemed to be one of the few places in the country where the words “down-ballot races” elicited wild cheers from the crowd.
Planned Parenthood’s 2016 work will be focused on Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Florida and Colorado — all states that have competitive U.S. Senate races.
And it’s not just about 2016—Planned Parenthood is looking ahead to the crucial redistricting year of 2020, when so much about the composition of state legislatures and the House for the following decade will be decided. That’s not a one-cycle organizing project, and it’s not just going to materialize without some investment now.
The campaign—spanning from 2016 to 2020—is also very much about the grassroots:
Atlanta volunteer Cazembe Jackson, 35, identifies as a queer transgender man and credits Planned Parenthood with saving his life after he was raped and had to get an abortion as a junior in college.
“I was referred to a rape crisis center, which probably saved my life at the time — definitely saved my life,” Jackson said. “So a lot of the reason that I organize and work with Planned Parenthood is of course protecting the right and the ability to access abortions, but also keeping trans and gender non-conforming people as a part of the conversation around reproductive health and rights.”
This is the kind of top-of-the-ballot to bottom-of-the-ballot, long-term thinking, and organizing required to make lasting progressive change and ensure that women’s health care is firmly established as a right—even for women in Republican-controlled states.