Planned Parenthood is making a six-figure ad buy, according to a spokeswoman who declined to be more specific. | Getty Planned Parenthood goes up with ads against Florida abortion bill

Planned Parenthood is going up Friday with new television and digital ads pushing Florida Gov. Rick Scott to veto a sweeping anti-abortion bill.

The ad campaign is Planned Parenthood’s first major pushback this year against state efforts to defund or undermine the organization — a legislative trend since sting videos targeting the group were released last summer.


The Florida bill would increase regulations on abortion clinics and prohibit public funding for organizations such as Planned Parenthood that work with abortion clinics. It also would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and perform the procedure in surgical centers — provisions similar to Texas restrictions that are now before the Supreme Court.

Scott has to act on the bill by March 26. While the ad campaign is unlikely to influence Scott, it is calculated to try to mobilize abortions rights supporters in a state that will play an outsized role in selecting the next president and in determining which party controls the Senate in 2017.

“Our state House and Senate has voted to defund Planned Parenthood,” a patient says in the ad. “Rick Scott approving this bill will mean that I won’t have access to safe health care in general and thousands of others won’t either.”

Planned Parenthood is making a six-figure ad buy, according to a spokeswoman who declined to be more specific. The group also put up a site with graphics that supporters can post on social media.

"We're making sure Rick Scott hears directly from the women who stand to lose their care if he signs this bill," Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards said in a statement. "What's happening in Florida is part of an unprecedented attack on women's access to basic health care in this country."

Florida’s measure is just the latest bill increasing regulation of abortion providers, but it is perhaps the most expansive introduced by a state.

In recent days, Virginia’s Legislature approved a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, and the Arizona and Missouri Legislatures are considering similar legislation. Twenty states have approved or considered anti-Planned Parenthood legislation since July — up from 15 states that stripped funding in the three years prior.

Abortion rights supporters such as Planned Parenthood warn that the bills will have a chilling effect on access for patients. Proponents say the legislation is designed to improve health care safety.

State lawmakers' efforts to defund the organization come after a federal effort failed. The Republican-controlled Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood earlier this year, but President Barack Obama vetoed the legislation.

Scott hasn’t said publicly that he would sign the bill, but he has previously signed several pieces of legislation that restrict abortion access, for instance, by requiring a 24-hour waiting period and an ultrasound before a woman can have the procedure.