John – When my wife, Grace, and I decided we were ready to start a family, we were in for a rude awakening.

We struggled with infertility, ultimately pursuing IVF. It was expensive, painful (emotionally and physically), and not even guaranteed to work. And even still, we knew we were lucky: We had insurance coverage for much of the treatment.

But coverage didn’t erase our fear. So when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally “children,” it felt personal to us.

Grace and I knew how critical it was that our IVF journey be managed by us and our doctors – not by a bunch of politicians with an anti-choice agenda.

The GOP extremists who are pushing these perverse, unscientific tactics to undermine IVF access are playing politics with people’s lives and families. But Illinois has 5 congressional seats opening up next year, and I’m running for one of them to fight these attacks on our safety and freedoms.

John, I have an important question to ask you in a moment, but first, I’d love if you would read more about how my own family’s fertility journey has informed the kind of leader I promise to be.

For my family, there’s a happy ending: Grace and I are expecting our first child at the end of March.

In fact, our due date is just after Election Day, and the timing feels symbolic. Going through all this has made me even more motivated to protect our rights in Congress.

It’s not abstract to me when I say that we need leaders in Washington who understand the government doesn’t know better than a pregnant patient about what is right for their bodies or their families.

But I also know that the extremists attacking reproductive freedom are neither new, nor finished. Planned Parenthood has been under attack for decades. Project 2025 promised to destroy reproductive rights. And Trump himself has claimed to be a “champion” of fertility. And all those attacks and lies are backed with billions of shady dollars.

We cannot win this fight for everyone’s rights unless everyone joins in. So I’m asking you, more personally than you may ever know: Will you donate to my campaign for Congress right now, and send someone to Washington who will ALWAYS fight for our families, bodies, and freedom?

Thank you,

-- Robert Peters