Elizabeth Banks is one of President Obama's Hollywood ambassadors, and now the "Hunger Games" actress plays a starring role in a new campaign ad targeting female voters.
In the video, released Wednesday on the BarackObama.com YouTube page, Banks talks frankly about her support of Planned Parenthood, where she received health care services as an uninsured college graduate, and the incumbent president in the same take.
"Yes, I got birth control, but it was for my massive migraine headaches … " (as well as for another, more personal concern) she says, looking directly into the camera.
After her candid revelations, which she categorizes as "the kinds of things that I don’t want to discuss with employers," Banks, 38, shifts gears into a more general discussion about the embattled health care organization, women's rights and the two front-runners for this year's presidential election.
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"These services that they provide – what is it? – 95% of them don’t involve anything controversial," she says. "So, for that little 5%, that Mitt Romney decides he doesn’t agree with, he’s gonna take away cancer screenings? What is he doing?"
Making the case for "working-class ladies who need health care," Banks concludes by underscoring her choice of candidates. "President Obama has not compromised on women’s rights, and that’s why President Obama needs to stay in office," she says.
Planned Parenthood has been a flash point for controversy this election season. In addition to the brouhaha that ensued last January over the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity's politically charged decision to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood and their later reversal, conservative radio fixture Rush Limbaugh revived the debate Wednesday on his show. "What do you call Planned Parenthood if that's not a death squad?" he asked on the air.
Watch Banks' endorsement of Planned Parenthood and Obama in the clip below.