Darren Bailey’s answer to the abortion question causes a stir among the debate crowd

Illinois gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey was met with gasps and laughter from the crowd during a debate on Thursday as he answered a question about his views on abortion.

Bailey, 56, a Republican senator, was asked if he would support exceptions for rape and incest when it came to abortion bans, but he didn’t answer the question directly, instead targeting Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, 57.

Poll tracker FiveThirtyEight rates Pritzker as “very likely” to win the Illinois governor’s race, giving him 99 out of 100 chances of being reelected.

Backed by former President Donald Trump, Bailey said he would support a total abortion ban in the state of Illinois and has likened the process to the Holocaust.

The debate moderator asked Bailey, “Apart from saving the mother’s life, would you ban all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest?”

“Illinois has the most permissive abortion laws in the nation. Nothing will change when I’m governor. I couldn’t change them if I could,” Bailey replied.

“JB Pritzker stays up late trying to come up with new abortion laws,” Bailey said, and the comment seemingly drew a gasp from some in the crowd.

Video of the moment was posted to Twitter by journalist Aaron Rupar on Thursday, and some laughter was heard from the crowd.

“Republican Darren Bailey draws gasps from the crowd as he completely dodges a debate question about his support for abortion bans,” Rupar wrote.

Bailey continued that “these issues divide us” and that his focus would be on “crime, taxes and education.”

“These are the issues that unite us. Those are the issues that are failing our state, but JB Pritzker wants to scare and spread all this nonsense that can’t be changed anyway and needs to stop,” Bailey said.

news week has reached out to the Bailey campaign for comment.

Pritzker and Bailey disagreed during the abortion debate.

“Darren Bailey wants to eliminate a woman’s right to vote,” Pritzker said. “He wants to take away women’s reproductive rights.”

Bailey chimed in to say, “You’re so divisive.”

“That’s what he stands for,” Pritzker replied.

In August, Pritzker slammed Bailey for comparing abortion to the Holocaust, but the Republican defended his comments, saying members of the Jewish community supported the original 2017 remarks.

“The Holocaust is a human tragedy like no other. I have in no way attempted to belittle the atrocities of the Holocaust and its taint in history,” Bailey said in August.

“I wanted to emphasize the tragedy of millions of babies being lost. I support and have met many people in the Illinois Jewish community and look forward to continuing to work with them to make Illinois a safer and more affordable place for all,” he said.