Planned Parenthood: GOP ‘turning the pill into yet another bill’

Planned Parenthood’s political arm is slamming two GOP Senate candidates over birth control in the group’s first television ad buy of the election cycle.

The group, Planned Parenthood Votes, debuted two 30-second spots arguing that Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) would make birth control more expensive for women if their views became law.

{mosads}Gardner and Tillis are trying to knock off Democratic incumbents Mark Udall (Colo.) and Kay Hagan (N.C.).

Both Republicans have endorsed making birth control pills available over the counter in order to ease access for women, and have said their move would make contraception cheaper.

But Planned Parenthood Votes said the proposal doesn’t hold water when taken with Gardner and Tillis’s opposition to ObamaCare, a law that already guarantees free birth control coverage for women with insurance.

“Just when insurance is finally covering the cost of prescription birth control, Thom Tillis says no: women should pay the $600 a year,” the North Carolina ad states.

“Look closer and you’ll see that Thom Tillis isn’t being honest with us, and he’s turning the pill into yet another bill.”

In an email, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) noted that most women backed over-the-counter birth control in a 2013 survey.

A spokeswoman for NRSC also said Planned Parenthood supports the policy, and pointed to an NPR report that said the same.

Over the counter birth control has become a flashpoint in several key Senate races as Republicans work to court centrist women voters.

Gardner became the first 2014 candidate to endorse the idea earlier this year while under attack for his support for “personhood,” an anti-abortion view that would outlaw common forms of contraception.

Gardner later disavowed his “personhood” stance, though opponents say the move rings hollow given his continued support for very similar legislation in Congress.

Planned Parenthood Votes will spending nearly $500,000 on ads in the Raleigh, N.C., media market and more than $400,000 in Denver, the group said.