NATION IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Ad Blitz Planned on Women’s Health Care

Planned Parenthood begins a $10-million advertising campaign Tuesday with a clear message for Congress: Health reform must cover all women’s medical needs, including contraception and abortion, or lawmakers will pay at election time. “For women, reproductive health care is basic health care,” said Planned Parenthood President Pamela Maraldo. “Congress must not turn its back on the women of America.” Anti-abortion groups denounced the campaign and are asking lawmakers to sign pledges to oppose any plan that covers abortion. “Don’t try to make abortion the same medical need as bone marrow transplant or open-heart surgery,” said Janet Parshall of the conservative Concerned Women for America. Planned Parenthood’s ads don’t directly mention abortion, instead saying that all reproductive health care must be covered under any national health system. But they are meant to counter anti-abortion efforts, including $1.4 million that the Christian Coalition, a Pat Robertson group, spent in newspaper ads this winter, spokeswoman Bebe Bahnsen said.