AT&T under fire for donating to lawmakers who supported bill

A Democratic super PAC headed by a former president of Planned Parenthood is set to unleash ads targeting Dallas-based AT&T for backing Texas lawmakers who sponsored the new state law that effectively outlaws abortion after six weeks.

American Bridge, which backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 campaign, will be running an ad in the digital version of The Dallas Morning News starting Tuesday. A TV ad taking aim at AT&T is expected to run in Texas in the coming days, a PAC representative told CNBC.

The Texas abortion law, officially known as SB 8, allows private citizens to sue people who are performing abortions in the state. It also gives private citizens the opportunity to sue anyone who assists people who receive an abortion. Biden’s Department of Justice sued the state of Texas over the law after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to go into effect last month.

The PAC also intends to soon run a similar ad in Florida, where a Republican lawmaker recently introduced a bill that echoes what Texas’ law does, a person familiar with the matter said. This person declined to be identified since the Florida ad is set to be announced at a later date.

Both the TV and digital newspaper ads say Corporate Accountability Action paid for the ads. Corporate Accountability Action is a project of American Bridge, the PAC spokesperson said.

“AT&T helped fund the anti-abortion politicians who wrote the dangerous law,” says a copy of the digital ad set to be placed with the online version of The Dallas Morning News. A picture of Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is depicted on screen.

The ad also calls on voters to “Tell @ATT to get #Offthebanwagon” and to urge the company to “stop funding anti-abortion extremists in Texas.” Abbott is up for reelection in 2022 and could end up facing Beto O’Rourke, who ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 cycle after narrowly losing to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 U.S. Senate race in Texas.

The online news outlet Popular Information reports that AT&T is one of the top donors to state lawmakers who co-sponsored the anti-abortion bill. Since 2018, AT&T has given more than $300,000 to the co-sponsors of the bill, according to Popular Information’s reporting.

Feminist group UltraViolet says nearly a dozen primary sponsors of SB 8 have recently seen over $100,000 from corporate donors, including AT&T.

An AT&T spokesman told CNBC the company has never taken a position on abortion and has no immediate plans to change that policy. The representative also noted that AT&T also contributed to the campaigns of lawmakers who opposed the bill.

“AT&T has never taken a position on the issue of abortion, and the Texas legislation was no exception. AT&T did not endorse nor support passage of…