April 25, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — The pro-life Republican backed by two national pro-life groups won the special election against a pro-abortion physician in Arizona’s 8th Congressional district to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Trent Franks.
Debbie Lesko, a former state lawmaker, beat Democrat Dr. Hiral Tipirneni Tuesday in a special House election by 5 percentage points, Fox News reports.
The seat opened up after Franks’ December 8 resignation following allegations of misconduct.
Lesko campaigned as a pro-life and family candidate, stating via her website, “I’m a strong believer that life begins at conception and we must protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Lesko also vowed that in Congress, “I will vigorously support the principles of life and vote to prohibit any federal funding for abortion or infanticide.”
The Arizona Republican had the backing of both Susan B. Anthony List and National Right to Life.
SBA List endorsed Lesko back in January, citing Lesko’s “consistent pro-life voting record.”
The pro-life group said in its statement congratulating Lesko that, “The contrast between Debbie and her opponent, an extremist who opposes any limits on abortion – even on partial-birth abortion – could not have been greater.”
Tipirneni, a former emergency room physician, voiced support for legalized partial-birth abortion in a recent MSNBC interview.
She also invoked the bloody back-alley abortion image abortion advocates employ in their fight to keep abortion legal, along with the abortion movement’s “safe, legal and rare” catchphrase.
Tipirneni also recommended “comprehensive sex education” as the answer to keeping abortion rare in the interview, as well as protecting access to contraception for women. She said as well she did not think limits on abortion should be legislated.
Tipirneni promoted the interview the following day on Twitter.
National Right to Life called the race “a classic pro-life vs. pro-abortion contest” in its statement of congratulations to Lesko, and that “Lesko’s position on life reflects the true values of Arizona’s voters.”
The group also noted that Tipirneni had the support of the abortion industries major players, including EMILY’s List, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood.
As a state representative in 2014 Lesko was a part of a call for the Arizona Attorney General's Office and the Arizona Department of Health Services to investigate the Planned Parenthood facility in Tempe for an unreported sexual assault of a young girl at the facility.
The incident had initially gone unreported and termed by Planned Parenthood staff as consensual, because the abortion giant’s staff reportedly did not want to deal with reporting the incident to law enforcement.
Lesko had sponsored legislation earlier that year allowing state health officials to make unannounced inspections at abortion facilities without having to obtain a warrant.
The 8th congressional district contains a small area near Phoenix, where President Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 21 percent in the 2016 presidential election,
With more than 455,000 registered voters in the district, Republicans have a 17-percentage-point registration advantage, according to the Fox News report. Republicans comprise 187,129, while 109,555 are Democrats and 154,764 voters are not registered to a party.
