Planned Parenthood adds $10m to Democrat war chest in North Carolina

Planned Parenthood is planning to spend $10m — its largest single state investment — to help fund Democratic organising efforts in North Carolina's swing districts.

The investment is aimed at driving voters to support the Democrats running for office in the state — including a contested governor's race — as well as to bolster turnout for Joe Biden in the 2024 election.

In 2020, Mr Biden lost North Carolina to Donald Trump by just over a percentage point. A recent analysis by Moody's Analytics suggests that state could flip blue in 2024.

Critically, North Carolina is the only Deep South state where abortion is still legal after six weeks of pregnancy. That fact has become a major talking point for Democrats campaigning in the state this year, the New York Times reports.

Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who is running for the Republicans in the state's gubernatorial race, has endorsed a total ban on abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected. He has previously called abortion «murder,» and insisted that when a woman becomes pregnant her body no longer belongs to her, even though he admitted having paid for an abortion in 1989.

Mr Robinson is running against Democrat Josh Stein, the state's attorney general.

Democrats are hoping that Mr Robinson's staunch stance on abortion, combined with grass-roots efforts and the new organising investment made by Planned Parenthood, will help motivate concerned voters to back them come November.

“As we head into November, all eyes are on North Carolina because abortion access across the entire region will be determined by the results of this election,” Emily Thompson, the deputy director of Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic and the spokesperson for the organisation's super