CHICAGO - On Oct. 20, Personal PAC, Illinois' pro-abortion political action committee, hosted its 21st Annual Awards Luncheon in Chicago.
The event was keynoted by former CIA officer Valerie Plame who told the Windy City Times that she believes "the issue of our time is going to be women's economic and educational freedom."
"This [abortion] is an issue I believe in passionately, and I love Personal Pac's focus on state and local candidates and that's where real change is effected at those levels."
Personal PAC celebrated its 25th anniversary with the idea of "The personal is political. The political is personal."
Gov. Pat Quinn (D) also spoke. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D), Ald. Tom Tunney (D) and state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D) were in attendance.
Terry Cosgrove, President & CEO of Personal PAC focused his remarks on the upcoming election and Republican candidate for Governor Bruce Rauner, who is also ardently pro-abortion. He specifically spoke about Personal PAC's opposition to the state's parental notification law, which requires parents of minors to be notified before their child can have an abortion.
"Mr. Rauner likes to say he has 'no social agenda,' but his actions and statements around reproductive rights, as is the case with marriage equality, tell an entirely different story," Cosgrove to the Windy City Times. "Bruce Rauner has a social agenda and it is a very frightening agenda. The mission of Personal PAC is to elect pro-choice leaders and candidates who understand that the definition of 'pro-choice' is that every woman in Illinois should have the exact same access to reproductive health care regardless of age, income or geography."
State Treasurer candidate Tom Cross was the only statewide Republican endorsed by Personal PAC.
