Personal PAC, a pro-choice organization in Illinois that fights restrictions on abortion, has released a video ad attacking conservative State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) for her pro-life stance in the 2018 race for governor.
The ad, entitled “Repulsive, Repugnant, and Well-Funded,” attempts to scare viewers by associating Ives with the pro-life policies of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, including opposition to taxpayer funding of abortions (which is already illegal on the federal level).
“We thought this could never happen in Illinois,” the ad says in bright block letters.
The ad also cites several news sources — including Breitbart News — reporting that Ives is surging in the Republican primary against incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
(In an ad released several days ago, Ives criticized Rauner for signing a bill last year to provide state Medicaid coverage for abortions, after promising to veto it.)
The Personal PAC ad closes with footage of Ives telling a rally: “The pro-life movement is alive, and we will not be denied.”
On Wednesday, Ives released a new radio ad of her own.
The transcript reads:
Now that I’ve got your attention…
My name is Jeanne Ives and I’m the conservative Republican running against Bruce Rauner for Governor.
I’m an economic liberty, pro-family West Point grad.
I’ve spent the last five years battling Chicago Democrats.
I didn’t think I’d have to spend so much time battling Bruce Rauner.
But when Rauner betrayed conservative families, that’s exactly what I did.
Rauner made Illinois a sanctuary state. I voted against it.
Rauner made you pay for abortions in all nine months of pregnancy. I voted against it–and so did every other Republican legislator.
Rauner took money from your schools to bail out the Chicago Public Schools. I voted against it.
National Review has called Rauner the worst Republican governor in the country, because he is.
Rauner betrayed us.
I honor who we are as conservatives.
Rauner can’t win re-election.
He said he’s not in charge.
With your help, I’ll lead the charge.
Pro-abortion activists are already slamming Ives’s ad.
The Planned Parenthood Illinois Action PAC said (via CapitolFax):
The latest misleading ad from Jeanne Ives further perpetuates falsehoods about abortion care in Illinois. Ives continues to attack a legal medical procedure by making untrue claims about specific details that are not a part of House Bill 40. To be clear, HB 40 did not include any language regarding when abortions are performed. Illinoisans expect their elected officials to tell the truth. Rep. Ives is falsely representing a law and misleading voters.
An ACLU official said:
Seeking the Governor’s office in Illinois, Representative Jeanne Ives seems determined to mislead the electorate. Her campaign’s new radio advertisement ignores the reality that House Bill 40 – passed and signed into law over her objections – simply ensures access to health care (including abortion care) for low-income women and some state workers in Illinois. It did nothing – nothing – to expand or alter when abortion care is legal in our state. She may have opposed the legislation, but she cannot mislead people as to its actual meaning and intent.
The critics are apparently interpreting Ives’s ad as if she were accusing Rauner of expanding the time in which abortion would be legal, rather than accusing Rauner of making taxpayers foot the bill.
Technically, abortion is legal in Illinois through “all nine months of pregnancy” though only when it would be necessary to protect the life or health of the mother. Otherwise, abortion is legal only up to the the point of viability.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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