U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet put abortion center stage in the competitive Colorado race Thursday in a new TV ad attacking challenger Joe O’Dea’s position. The Republican immediately fired back, accusing his Democratic opponent of ignoring O’Dea’s “balanced” approach to the question.

Bennet’s gambit highlights the divisive issue’s potential to reshape the midterm election as dozens of states have moved to ban abortion this summer following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1972 decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion.

The new 30-second ad, set to air for two weeks on broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, features five Colorado women identified by their first names and hometowns describing their reactions to the court ruling.

“I honestly never thought I would see this day,” says a woman from Aurora as headlines describing the high court’s June decision fade into view on screen.

“It makes the race for Senate even more important,” says a woman from Boulder.

“Michael Bennet has always fought to protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions,” a woman from Denver, says, adding that O’Dea “opposes the law protecting abortion access in Colorado.”

After a woman from Castle Rocks notes that O’Dea has said he would have voted to confirm the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe, a woman from Denver says: “It’s not even close, we need Michael Bennet fighting for us.”

Citing endorsements from Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Colorado-based abortion-rights advocates COBALT, Justin Lamorte, Bennet’s campaign manager, said in a statement that the women who appear in the new ad “spoke up because their reproductive rights are at risk. They know the choice for U.S. Senate is not even close: Michael fights to protect reproductive rights, O’Dea sides with far-right politicians who’d take those rights away.”

It’s the third general election TV ad Bennet has released since mid-July, when the incumbent took to the air with an ad outlining proposals to curb corporate influence on Washington, followed by an ad about protecting public lands that featured Bennet fly fishing with a guide who also serves as an unaffiliated county commissioner from central Colorado. A Bennet spokesman said the campaign is spending about $300,000 a week to run the ad for the first week, adding to the $1.2 million spent over the last month.

Calling the Bennet ad “the latest smear against Joe,” O’Dea’s campaign said Bennet was misrepresenting the Republican’s support for abortion rights in most circumstances.

“This is exactly what desperate politicians do to cling to power,” O’Dea said in a statement. “I believe we need balance. I want to move the country forward. I opposed the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade and in the Senate I would vote to codify a woman’s right to choose early in the pregnancy and in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.”

O’Dea, who regularly points out that he was adopted and says that “personally” he is “pro-life,” drew heavy criticism from fellow Republicans during the primary for his support for Roe, though he also supports banning late-term abortions and parental notification requirements and opposes government funding of abortions.

In a lengthy post to his campaign site, O’Dea quotes numerous news accounts detailing his position, including one that says he’s “at odds with most GOP voters.”

The post also points to Democratic mailers sent statewide during the GOP primary that called him “pro-abortion” in an attempt to steer the nomination toward his primary opponent.

O’Dea has said he opposes a Colorado law passed earlier this year that guarantees the right to an abortion without restriction, calling the approach “reckless” and “extreme.” He also said he would have voted against a Democratic-sponsored bill in the Senate that would have put similar protections in place.

“The country is not 100% pro life, the country is not 100% pro choice,” O’Dea said in a primary debate in May, before the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe was announced.

His campaign blasted “both Democrats and Republicans” who “want to keep the controversy alive,” saying most Americans support abortion rights early in pregnancy and “reasonable limits” on late-term abortion, though O’Dea has declined to specify the line between early- and late-term abortion.

It’s an attempt by Democrats to distract from the issues O’Dea intends to run on, his campaign said.

“But no amount of smears from Michael Bennet can change the reality that this election will be a referendum on inflation, gas prices, and the recession created by Biden and Bennet’s reckless spending,” his campaign said.