Senate Democratic campaign arm launches first ad responding to draft Supreme Court abortion ruling

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is out with its first ad responding to the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that established the right to an abortion. 

The 30-second digital spot warns that a Republican-controlled Senate would work to ban abortions nationwide and limit access to birth control if Democrats lose their paper-thin majority in November. The ad is set to begin running on Wednesday with a homepage takeover on MSNBC’s website.

“If Senate Republicans win in November, they will light women’s rights on fire,” a narrator says in the ad. “They will make abortion illegal everywhere, punishing women even in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother’s life. And they’re coming after birth control, unless we vote. If we protect and expand our Democratic majority in the Senate, we’ll protect women’s rights to make their own decisions.”

The DSCC said that it is spending five figures on the ad, though it’s being billed as an “initial” buy, holding out the possibility that the group could commit more money to the fight. 

It’s the latest effort by Democrats to make the fate of abortion rights a central theme of the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans need to pick up just one seat in the Senate to recapture the majority, and Democrats are already facing difficult electoral prospects in November.

While Republicans have so far sought to make the midterms about issues like inflation, crime and border control, the draft ruling, which was leaked to Politico, has set off a fury among many Americans who fear that the Supreme Court is poised to strip away a long-established right.

Republicans are still betting that pocketbook issues like inflation and rising gas prices will overshadow any debate over abortion rights, believing that the issue will fizzle out by November.

But Democrats say that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it would amount to a political earthquake that could drastically alter the course of the midterms. 

“This election will determine whether the GOP is able to put in place these new, cruel, and punishing restrictions on women and families — and for voters the stakes of protecting and expanding our Democratic Senate Majority has never been higher,” Nora Keefe, a spokesperson for the DSCC, said.