Texas State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione built his political career attacking abortion rights. Now, he’s at the center of a scandal that exposes him as a hypocrite of the highest order.
Capriglione, a Republican who authored the infamous 2021 Human Life Protection Act, helped make Texas one of the most dangerous states in the country for pregnant women. That law, which took effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned, banned nearly all abortions and stripped women of their right to choose—even in life-threatening situations. Maternal deaths have risen sharply since.
But while Capriglione was pushing anti-abortion laws in public, behind closed doors he was allegedly doing the opposite.
According to Alex Grace, a former exotic dancer, Capriglione paid for multiple abortions during a years-long affair. In an interview with Current Revolt, Grace said their relationship began in 2004, when she was 18. Capriglione was already a married father of three and had just begun his political climb.
Grace says Capriglione went to extreme lengths to hide their relationship. “Go to the back of [a Chuck-E-Cheese] and next to the dumpster there would be a rubber mat. Look under it, and under this rubber mat was an envelope with money,” she recalled. He used burner phones and fake emails. He constantly canceled their meetings, terrified of getting caught.
She claims he “funded several abortions for his own personal gain,” all while pretending to stand against abortion rights in public. “If you are using abortions for your personal gain, if you are using women for your personal gain, why announce to the world that this isn’t who you are?” she said.
Grace also accused Capriglione of disturbing behavior. In a TikTok video and follow-up interview, she claimed he once fantasized about ejaculating into cookie batter for his daughter’s school bake sale. “His fantasy was that — when no one was looking — that he would produce ‘baby gravy’ to put into the cookie batter before they were baked, because it was a turn on for him,” she said. He liked the idea that “all of the girls in the neighborhood would be consuming” it.
Capriglione’s office didn’t respond to media requests, but in a statement to The Texas Tribune, he admitted to the affair. “Years ago, I selfishly had an affair,” he wrote. “I’m not proud of this. Thank God my wife and family forgave me.”
But he denied paying for abortions and claimed the rest of the story was “categorically false.” He called it a “smear campaign” and accused critics of “twisting and manipulating old events.” Capriglione vowed to stay in office and “return his fulltime attention” to his legislative work.
That may not be enough. Fellow Republican State Rep. Briscoe Cain has called for Capriglione’s resignation and a full investigation. “If he had any role in killing babies — he should resign,” Cain wrote.
Capriglione had recently announced he wouldn’t seek re-election—just days before the affair story broke. It’s a dramatic fall for a man once praised for writing “the most consequential pro-life bill in state history.”
For voters in Texas, especially the women whose rights he helped destroy, Capriglione didn’t just lie. He built his political power on those lies—while living a double life that completely exposed him.
