Democrats are airing TV ads attacking Doug Mastriano on abortion

Democrats and allied groups are opening the general election for governor of Pennsylvania with an advertising blitz aimed at portraying Republican nominee Doug Mastriano as extreme on abortion.

The early spending, starting a week after the primary election, is the latest sign that Democrats plan to put abortion rights at the center of the midterm election campaign as the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

An affiliate of the Democratic Governors Association has reserved almost $2.7 million in airtime through early June for a TV ad that says Mastriano, a state senator, would take “Pennsylvania backwards,” according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising.

“The Supreme Court wants to set women’s rights back a half-century,” the narrator says, a reference to the leak earlier this month of a draft Supreme Court opinion in a Mississippi abortion case. The ad shows clips of Mastriano describing the mantra “my body, my choice” as “ridiculous nonsense” and expressing his opposition to exceptions for rape and incest. It’s airing in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh media markets.

» READ MORE: How the Pa. Republican establishment broke itself trying to stop Mastriano

The ad buy is part of a broader $6 million anti-Mastriano messaging campaign, funded by groups including Planned Parenthood, Politico reported. Mastriano’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mastriano’s opponent, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, also started airing TV ads earlier this month highlighting Mastriano’s position on abortion.

Mastriano has sponsored a “heartbeat” bill that would ban abortion after ultrasound screening picks up an embryo’s cardiac activity, which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Many women do not know they are pregnant by that point.

Mastriano has said he would sign that bill into law and also hopes to go further, saying he believes life starts at conception.

“We’re gonna have to work our way towards that,” he said during a GOP primary debate.

Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, though that could change after the November elections. Outgoing Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed multiple bills that would have further restricted abortion access.

» READ MORE: What an antiabortion ‘heartbeat bill’ would actually do in Pa.

Mastriano is not shying away from the issue. During his victory speech last week, he said: “You want to talk about extreme? Democrat governors around the nation here want to kill babies even up to birth, and some are talking about after birth. That’s extreme. That’s denying the science. That’s immoral. Every baby deserves the right to life.”

Asked on CNN Sunday whether he supports any restrictions on abortion, Shapiro said he supports current Pennsylvania law.

Abortion is generally legal in Pennsylvania prior to 24 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions thereafter if the mother’s life or health is endangered.

“My job as governor will be to protect Pennsylvania law — that’s what I support,” Shapiro said.