This billionaire is trying to flip the Pa. Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood wants to stop him.

Democrats currently hold a 5-2 majority on the bench, with Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht running for reelection in a “yes” or “no” retention vote.

Planned Parenthood Votes, the campaign arm for the country’s leading reproductive health care organization, is sounding the alarm that right-wing billionaires like Jeffrey Yass are trying to upend Democratic control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this November. 

That’s why the organization is launching a six-figure mail campaign to urge Pennsylvanians to vote yes and retain the three Democratic justices who are on this year’s ballot.

“The same billionaires who’ve bankrolled anti-abortion politicians are now coming after Pennsylvanians’ rights in this election,” Nicole Chung, Pennsylvania Regional Campaigns Director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is our last line of defense in the fight to protect access to abortion and other essential health care.” 

Democrats currently hold a 5-2 majority on the bench with Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht running for reelection in a “yes” or “no” retention vote. The three justices flipped control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court when they were elected in 2015, and will serve another 10-year term pending approval from voters. 

Dark money organizations and political action committees funded by Yass, the commonwealth’s richest billionaire, are pouring millions into a “vote no” campaign rallying Republicans to vote against the three judges. They’re also trying to trick Democrats into voting against the justices by sending them mailers calling for term limits on the bench. 

Citizens for Term Limits, a non-profit organization housed under the same address as Commonwealth Partners, a non-profit organization connected to Yass, is attempting to convince voters that voting against the three Democratic justices will somehow protect women’s rights. 

Yass has a net worth of over $65 billion thanks to his investments in TikTok, and so far, has spent at least $1.25 million in the upcoming court election. But voters won’t know how much the GOP megadonor has spent until the next round of campaign finance reports are filed two weeks prior to Election Day. 

In 2023, Yass spent more than $6 million trying to elect Montgomery County President Judge Carolyn Carluccio to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after Carluccio was caught hiding her anti-abortion views.

“The outcome of this election could shift the balance of the court and jeopardize these freedoms for millions,” Chung said. “We need Pennsylvanians to vote yes to retain Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht, who will continue to protect access to birth control, abortion, and prenatal care.”