Gavin Newsom posts powerful ad condemning Tennessee’s no-exceptions abortion policies

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, has launched an advertising campaign hitting back against legislation proposed in several Republican-led states that would restrict people from travelling out of state for abortions.

The new ad from Mr Newsom’s super PAC, Campaign for Democracy, will begin airing this week in Tennessee, where Republicans, with the “abortion trafficking bill”, are trying to make it a felony for an adult to help a minor obtain an abortion out-of-state without parental permission.

In the campaign video, a frightened woman is seen handcuffed to a hospital bed and crying for help, a sexual assault evidence collection kit visible nearby.

“Trump Republicans want to criminalise young women who travel to receive the reproductive care they need,” a voiceover in the video narrates. “Don’t let them hold Tennessee women hostage.”

The ad directs viewers to visit a website, which features a petition urging lawmakers to “vote no on legislation taking away the constitutional right to travel”.

Mr Newsom announced the campaign in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Saturday.

​​“These guys are not just restricting the rights, self-determination to bear a child for a young woman, but they’re also determining their fate as it relates to their future in life by saying they can’t even travel,” he said.

These so-called “abortion trafficking” laws have also been proposed in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama, and one was passed in Idaho in April.

“That’s how serious this moment is,” Mr Newsom said. “And we need to be even more aggressive, I would argue, and that’s what this ad represents.”