House Democrats label Republicans ‘anti-abortion extremists’ in new ad

The main fundraising arm for House Democrats is hammering vulnerable Republicans over their positions on abortion.

The latest ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) targets GOP Reps. Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), Brandon Williams (N.Y.) and Young Kim (Calif.), among others, and is made up primarily of clips from TV news reports.

The one-minute digital spot touts pro-abortion rights victories in various states following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade in 2022, and knocks Republicans for arguing against abortion rights or saying the issue should be left up to states.

Ciscomani and Williams are running for reelection this year in races viewed as “toss-ups” by The Cook Political Report, while Kim’s is rated as “likely Republican.”

DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton in a statement on the digital ad slammed what Democrats call the GOP’s “extreme agenda” on abortion, saying it is “out of touch with the values and beliefs of everyday Americans.”

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chair of the GOP campaign counterpart National Republican Congressional Committee, responded to the video in a statement to The Hill, saying, “If you’re losing on every issue that the voters care about, and you have no ideas on how to fix it, I would also want to change the subject to something else.”

Hudson said Republicans this year will focus on issues they believe are most important to voters — the economy, crime and immigration. “Republicans don’t have a policy problem. We have a branding problem,” he said.

The Democratic video was released on the 51st anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Democrats this year are battling to retake the House, where Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority, and national Democrats have focused heavily on abortion rights in an effort to gin up support heading into November.

In a Gallup poll last year, 69 percent of adults surveyed said abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court’s decision two years ago overturning Roe v. Wade effectively ended the federal right to abortion, sending the issue back to states to set their own laws. Nearly two dozen states have since rolled back or restricted access to abortion.

Former President Trump, currently the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has claimed credit for the change because he appointed three of the judges that formed the court’s conservative supermajority that overturned Roe.

President Biden’s reelection campaign has similarly rolled out an ad hammering Trump on abortion policies. It features a Texas woman who had to leave the state for an abortion after her fetus was found to have a fatal condition.

Updated: 1:31 p.m.