Abortion rights group targets Heller on Kavanaugh vote

An abortion rights group on Wednesday announced it is launching a five-figure ad buy to push vulnerable Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) to vote “no” on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

The TV ad from NARAL Pro-Choice America warns that criminalized abortion and women living in fear of punishment “could be our future” unless Heller stops Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

“Call Dean Heller,” the ad reads with a picture of the senator and his office number. “Tell him no on Kavanaugh.”

{mosads}The ad, which will run on statewide cable in Nevada for a week, also includes a headline from Fox News that said “Kavanaugh email questioning if Roe v. Wade is ‘settled law of the land’ revealed,” noting the Kavanaugh email from 2003 that was released during his confirmation hearings.

Democrats and outside groups say the email sent during Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush White House shows he would vote to overturn the landmark 1973 abortion rights case.

Kavanaugh in the email suggests cutting a paragraph from a draft op-ed that called Roe v. Wade settled law. He said he wasn’t sure all legal scholars would agree with that statement.

NARAL said its ad follows the release of a state poll conducted with Planned Parenthood that found 56 percent of Nevada voters are more likely to support a candidate for Congress who supports women’s rights, compared to only 11 percent who prefer to support candidates who oppose those rights.

Heller is facing a tough reelection as a Senate Republican running in a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.