Planned Parenthood PAC to spend $1.5M campaigning for Gov. Tom Wolf, others

Planned Parenthood's Pennsylvania political action committee is intending to spend $1.5 million to support Gov. Tom Wolf's re-election campaign and other candidates up for election this fall.

The group said Wolf has worked to expand access to women's health care and contraception while vetoing a state Republican bill to shorten the period in which women may legally have abortions.

“He is a brick wall against efforts to roll back health care access and rights of Pennsylvanians,” PAC Executive Director Sari Stevens said in a news release.

Wolf in December vetoed Senate Bill 3, which would have made abortions illegal after 20 weeks of pregnancy instead of the current 24 weeks.

Scott Wagner, the Republican nominee facing Wolf in November's gubernatorial election, co-sponsored the bill as a state senator.

“It's no surprise that Tom Wolf is setting records for donations taken from special interests. He is bought and paid for by those filling up his campaign coffers,” Wagner spokesman Andrew Romeo said in an email.

Wagner would be a governor who “ensures lower health care costs for Pennsylvanians,” he said in the email.

Planned Parenthood also supports Wolf's expansion of the state's Medicaid program to more than 700,000 people with low incomes.

Allegheny County is among the counties the group plans to target with door-knocking visits, phone calls, texts, direct mail and digital advertising, according to the release. The other counties are Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, Lehigh, Reading, Centre, Dauphin and Erie.

Wes Venteicher is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-380-5676, wventeicher@tribweb.com or via Twitter @wesventeicher.