Arizona is a battleground state in the upcoming election, judging by the nonstop political ads I see and the copious amounts of political mail I get. And boy are there some doozies that arrive in my mailbox. I recently wrote about a right-wing propaganda broadsheet that I received last week, and I'm back to show y'all one I got yesterday. This one was bright yellow and black, emblazoned with the text "PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT" as well as this copy:
ALERT: CHILDREN IN YOUR AREA ARE INCREASINGLY VULNERABLE DUE TO A PUBLIC HEALTH DANGER THAT IS THREATENING TO BECOME WORSE. THE ENCLOSED CONTAINS INFORMATION RELATED TO A PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD THREATENING CITIZENS (ESPECIALLY CHILDREN) IN ARIZONA. THIS DOCUMENT IS INTENDED TO BE READ SOLELY BY THE CITIZEN NAMED BELOW
I was alarmed for roughly zero seconds when I retrieved it from the mailbox, and upon opening it, it was immediately clear that this "PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT," with the return sender "WOMEN SPEAK OUT PAC" was nothing more than political propaganda against pro-choice candidates.
It contains lies about US Senator Mark Kelly (running for another term) and Katie Hobbs (running for Governor against Kari Lake), stating that they "have willingly pushed for radical measures that threaten the lives of unborn children." The letter also calls such 'unborn children' "healthy boys and girls living peacefully in their mothers' wombs, waiting to enter this world with us."
I was curious about what the "WOMEN SPEAK OUT PAC" was all about, so I poked around a bit and found this Forbes piece about the PAC. Zach Everson of Forbes states that it's an anti-abortion Super PAC that spent $165,000 supporting Herschel Walker in the days after it was revealed that Walker had allegedly paid for his girlfriend to get an abortion. Zach Everson explains:
Women Speak Out PAC now has spent at least $190,000 in support of Walker, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. The super PAC is affiliated with a nonprofit named Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which aims to "end abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders."
Women Speak Out spent $125,000 on digital ads opposing Walker's rival, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and $40,000 on canvassing between Oct. 5 and Oct. 7.
Spokespeople for the group and Walker's campaign did not immediately respond to inquiries. Reached last Tuesday, Women Speak Out said it was standing by Walker. "Herschel Walker has denied these allegations in the strongest possible terms, and we stand firmly alongside him," said Mallory Carroll, a vice president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America and spokeswoman for Women Speak Out. "To date, our Georgia field team has visited more than 310,000 homes across the state in support of pro-life candidates like Herschel and against the extremism of Sen. Warnock and Stacey Abrams, and we will continue through Election Day."
Their support extends far beyond Walker. Open Secrets also reveals that in the 2020 election cycle, the PAC spent $14,445,172 supporting anti-choice candidates in, and in the 2022 election, $5,371,160.
