Planned Parenthood is slamming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for backing a private company's suit over the Obama administration's birth-control mandate.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) rolled out a new television ad and several online videos Friday after McConnell and other GOP senators filed an amicus brief supporting Hobby Lobby, a Christian-run arts and crafts chain that opposes the Obama policy.
The company argues that covering a full range of birth-control methods in its employee health plan violates its owners' religious beliefs. It was denied injunctive relief by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in December. The court said that any claim of religious infringement was too indirect to merit judicial intervention.
In the Planned Parenthood ad, a female narrator accuses McConnell of wanting to allow bosses to "deny women birth control coverage, even while men get their Viagra covered."
"That's just not fair," the narrator says. "Call Mitch McConnell. Tell him that with birth control, we all benefit."
Similar online-only ads hit Sens. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), all of whom signed the amicus brief.
