In protest of the Republican-backed health-care plan making its way through Congress, the CBS sitcom Mom is donating its $250,000 Emmy advertising campaign budget to Planned Parenthood.
The show’s star Allison Janney and co-creator Chuck Lorre announced the donation on Thursday’s CBS This Morning. Janney emphasized that the donation was a response to the American Health Care Act’s provision not to allow “direct spending” from states with AHCA funds on “prohibited entities,” including community family planning service providers.
“Planned Parenthood is such an important organization that helps to give health services to millions of women and families, and it’s in danger—the House of Representatives voted to defund it,” Janney said. “It’s such a critical time.”
The average Emmy ad campaign costs between $150,000 and $500,000, TV Guide reported in 2012. Lorre says that he came up with the idea during an Emmy ad meeting with Warner Bros., the production company behind Mom. “I just blurted out, ‘Let’s give the money to Planned Parenthood,'” he said. “And they took me seriously.”
