Rock Island Today

Family PAC Federal Director Paul Caprio is encouraging voters to examine the backgrounds of the candidates in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District race.

Esther Joy King is the GOP candidate running for election to the 17th Congressional District.  

Caprio points to near unilateral support of federal abortion legislation that will strip rights from parents as a reason to vote for candidates like King.

“Relative to those two races. We are extremely concerned about the radical positions on abortion that both of the non-incumbent challengers to those two candidates you mentioned are taking by way of background,” Caprio told Rock Island Today.

“You should know that every House Democrat, with one exception — Henry Cuellar from Texas — voted for the radical abortion rights bill.

“It’s called the Women's Health Protection Act. That act does several things. Number one, is it makes illegal parental notification all over the entire United States. So the majority of states do have state laws on parental notification or parental consent. All of those laws would be immediately knocked out. It also allows abortion until the time of birth. It's another section of the act. And thirdly, I would also point out that all of the Democrats also voted to oppose, or I should say to support taxpayer-funded abortion, which means we would get rid of the Hyde Amendment in Washington. So those are the issues at play in terms of abortion for candidates running for federal offices. And by the way, the issues are actually the same for U.S. Senate candidates.”

“I think that these are both very strong women candidates. We're glad to see that they recruited so many talented conservatives, what I would call parents-rights women. These are both women who across the board support parents' rights, the rights of parents to know, for instance, what are their children learning in public schools? Issues of masking and vaccinations. Issues of private spaces for members of the different biological sexes. These are all important issues for parents who want the right to raise their children without making the final say. Not the government at any level making the final say and pretending that they're co-parenting with the real parents. So those are the reasons why we support those two outstanding candidates.”

King is an attorney from East Moline who formerly worked in Kabul, Afghanistan, for a charity that supported education. She is a member of the Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps for the US Army.

According to Roll Call, a so-called "red wave" is anticipated in the Nov. 8 election as the GOP is predicted to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, with King's race being a key issue in Illinois.

Democrat Eric Sorensen, a former meteorologist for Rockford and the Quad Cities, declared that he would fight for women's reproductive health rights and that "abortion is health care.”

Caprio wrote a letter to the editor to the Wall Street Journal dated Aug. 25 on the issue. 

“Your August 25, 2022 editorial The GOP’s Abortion Problem, is correct in stating that ‘Democrat Pat Ryan won with about 52% of the vote by making abortion rights his main issue. (In New York CD 19) Democrat turnout exceeded expectations,’” Caprio wrote.

“Why did Mr. Molinaro, the GOP candidate, lose an election that most GOP experts thought he should win?”

“As a WSJ editorial of June 10, The Contradictions of Abortion Polling, clearly explained, abortion is a very nuanced issue with most voters, clearly not on either extreme.”

“Yet every House Democrat (except Henry Cuellar) is on the far extreme on the issue of abortion. As the WSJ points out in the June 10 editorial, the House Democrats passed the Women’s Health Protection Act that “guarantees abortion access through viability and through all nine months if a health provider (?) deems the pregnancy a health risk. It also protects sex-selective abortion and undercuts state laws that require parental notification for minors considering abortion.’”

“How far out have the Democrats gone here?”

“Legalized abortion through all nine months…prohibiting parental notification in every state!”

“As WSJ further points out in the June 10 editorial, 55% of Americans tell Gallup that abortion should generally be illegal in the second trimester.”

“In the year of “angry parents,” more than 70% of voters support parental notification, even in blue states, in poll after poll.”

“Yet instead of launching a successful counterattack on Ryan on these issues, the Republican candidate followed the GOP Party Line…‘the Election is about inflation, not about abortion.’ The GOP candidate is quoted as saying, ‘We need to have a discussion about late-term abortion.’ That statement would turn off any pro-life voter who might have considered voting in a summer special election in New York.”

“My experience is that either 1) destruction of the opponent’s credibility or 2) successful counterattack (which should have been the case here) is what wins close campaigns. Neither was present in the GOP candidate’s failed campaign.”

“As long as the House GOP gives their candidates flawed advice on the issue of abortion, the proposed GOP Committee Chairman should hold off on the portraits.”

The Women's Health Protection Act passed the U.S House.

The bill provides a federal override allowing the Department of Justice or individuals tp bring lawsuits if abortion access is restricted.

The bill is expected to override most state laws on the issue including newly instituted abortion bans.

"What it does primarily is it creates a right to abortion, all nine months of pregnancy [and] it would invalidate pretty much all state legislation that's been passed," said Jennifer Popik, a lawyer and director of federal legislation at an anti-abortion group, National Right to Life told ABC News.