Ad Roundup: Planned Parenthood and the RNC Launch New Ads

By Sarah Lovenheim

Planned Parenthood's Pitch
The political arm of Planned Parenthood yesterday launched a 30-second TV ad highlighting its role in providing health-care services for women as lawmakers discuss goals of reform.

The spot outlines the types of preventative and primary care services that Planned Parenthood provides, such as cancer screenings, contraception, STI testing and immunizations. It will air on cable in the D.C. media market through the end of June.

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards says of the group's work: "We see three million women each year, but there are another 10 million women who need health care and we hope that under more health care reform that more women will get affordable contraception, breast cancer screenings" and other types of services she says Planned Parenthood provides.

While Richards did not disclose the cost of the ad buy, she said the spot is part of a broader campaign by Planned Parenthood to inform Americans about the group's role in health care -- an effort that includes Internet ads and other types of grassroots organizing across the country.

She described the campaign as "a national educational effort to ensure that people who are making decisions about health care understand the vital role that Planned Parenthood plays."

Hear the RNC Roar
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee is airing a new Web ad attacking Democratic proposals of health-care reform. The spot titled "How are Democrats and President Obama Going to Pay for Government Run Health Care?" features Fox News Channel’s Stu Varney and other on-air personalities questioning the price tag of reform. Varney begins:

“Let me summarize this report. It’s from the CBO – the Congressional Budget Office – which is nonpartisan. It’s looking at the Kennedy plan. It says you would reduce the number of uninsured people by sixteen million in ten years at a cost of one trillion dollars. Okay? Now that’s a gigantic price tag.”

RNC chairman Michael Steele said of the ad: “Health care reform must preserve the doctor-patient relationship. The government already runs car companies, banks and mortgage companies. The last thing the American people want is government telling them when and where they can get medical treatment for their families."