--- title: Thom Tillis, Cory Gardner Targeted By Planned Parenthood in New Ads description: The organization says the candidates are playing politics with women's health canonical: https://time.com/3340466/planned-parenthood-contraceptives-birth-control-pill/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-12T15:12:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:09:24.883Z article:section: Politics og:title: Thom Tillis, Cory Gardner Targeted By Planned Parenthood in New Ads og:description: The organization says the candidates are playing politics with women's health og:url: https://time.com/3340466/planned-parenthood-contraceptives-birth-control-pill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c6c74be2feed45/6986a3033bc9994f931a5455/planned-parenthood.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Pro-Choice Supporters Rally In DC Against Restrictive Abortion Laws og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Thom Tillis, Cory Gardner Targeted By Planned Parenthood in New Ads twitter:description: The organization says the candidates are playing politics with women's health twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c6c74be2feed45/6986a3033bc9994f931a5455/planned-parenthood.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Planned Parenthood Pushes Back Against GOP on Birth Control Support > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 12, 2014 3:12 PM UTC  Women hold up signs during a women's pro-choice rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 11, 2013. Women hold up signs during a women's pro-choice rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 11, 2013. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 12, 2014 3:12 PM UTC Planned Parenthood is joining liberal groups in attacking Republican candidates who have recently come out in [support of expanding access to over-the-counter contraceptives](http://time.com/3305879/republicans-cant-stop-talking-about-over-the-counter-birth-control/). Planned Parenthood Votes, the organization’s political action committee, launched ad buys in Colorado and North Carolina on Friday totaling nearly $1 million, targeting GOP Senate candidates Thom Tillis and Cory Garndner. Both Tillis and Gardner are among Republican candidates who have recently said they believe [contraception should be made more widely available](http://time.com/3305879/republicans-cant-stop-talking-about-over-the-counter-birth-control/). Planned Parenthood, however, is calling their stance a “last-ditch-political ploy” to attract women voters who polls show are wary of the GOP. The group says candidates want to turn “the pill into yet another bill” by shifting cost of contraceptives off of insurance companies and onto women. “Women aren’t fooled,” Planned Parenthood Votes Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said in a statement. “They know that the politicians like Cory Gardner and Thom Tillis proposing to make birth control available over-the-counter are the same ones trying to get rid of insurance coverage for birth control, which would set women back economically to the tune of $600 a year out of pocket.” The nearly $1 million buy includes about $500,000 worth of TV buys in North Carolina and over $400,000 worth of buys in Colorado. The ads are a part of Planned Parenthood’s Women are Watching campaign, which targets “anti-women’s health politicians.” Friday’s ads are Planned Parenthood Votes’ first buys of this election cycle. Tillis and Gardner are both facing incumbent Democrats in the upcoming election. Though Tillis’ battle against Sen. Kay Hagan is considered a toss-up, recent polls show Gardner’s opponent Sen. Mark Udall ahead by[ over three points](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/co/colorado%5Fsenate%5Fgardner%5Fvs%5Fudall-3845.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3340466/planned-parenthood-contraceptives-birth-control-pill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3340466/planned-parenthood-contraceptives-birth-control-pill/"},"headline":"Planned Parenthood Pushes Back Against GOP on Birth Control Support","datePublished":"2014-09-12T15:12:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:09:24.883Z","description":"The organization says the candidates are playing politics with women's health","url":"https://time.com/3340466/planned-parenthood-contraceptives-birth-control-pill/","keywords":["2014 Election","Senate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c6c74be2feed45/6986a3033bc9994f931a5455/planned-parenthood.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c6c74be2feed45/6986a3033bc9994f931a5455/planned-parenthood.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pro-Choice Supporters Rally In DC Against Restrictive Abortion Laws","caption":"Pro-Choice Supporters Rally In DC Against Restrictive Abortion Laws","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3340466/planned-parenthood-contraceptives-birth-control-pill/","name":"Planned Parenthood Pushes Back Against GOP on Birth Control Support"}}]}] ```