By Illinois Radio Network/Greg Bishop
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ new governor aims to make the Land of Lincoln the most progressive state for women’s reproductive rights.
To mark the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, Gov. J.B. Pritzker championed a bill that was signed by the previous governor more than a year ago.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 40 in September 2017. The measure was passed that May, but a procedural hold kept the bill from Rauner. His decision to sign the bill into law rocked his Republican base and was a leading reason he was challenged by a Republican lawmaker in the following primary. Rauner said at the time that the measure ensured no woman, regardless socioeconomic status or whether they worked for the government, would be denied the right to an abortion.
Pritzker signed an executive order to fully implement all the provisions of Rauner’s abortion law Tuesday at a Planned Parenthood of Illinois in Chicago.
Pritzker said there were concerns the previous administration wouldn’t fully implement the law that allowed state employees to get abortion coverage in their health insurance.
“We had some indications, but the most important thing is we’re going to make sure that every woman in state government has the coverage that she deserves,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker also promised to make Illinois the most progressive state for women’s reproductive rights.
Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David Smith, who opposes abortion, and said the policy will exasperate Illinois’ decline.
“No state prospers economically with a declining demographic and that’s what we have here in Illinois, a declining demographic,” Smith said.
Pritzker said the bill removed a trigger law that if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade “Illinois would have instantaneously become an anti-choice state,” Pritzker said. “That’s why this bill was so critically important.”
Smith said if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, he would expect the Illinois law would be challenged in court.
“That fundamental right to life is universal,” Smith said. “It isn’t protected by some feckless law that lawmakers passed.”
Smith said if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade on a technicality, Illinois’ law could still stand. But if the court were to say “the right to life is fundamental,” that would mean Illinois’ law would violate the highest court in the land.
“Although taxpayer-funded abortion is law in this state, the Catholic Conference of Illinois believes laws should protect and respect all Illinois citizens – born and unborn,” Catholic Conference of Illinois Executive Director Robert Gilligan said in a statement.
The Thomas More Society, an anti-abortion group, has already challenged House Bill 40 in court at the state level. That lawsuit could go to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The Thomas More Society claims lawmakers abused the legislative process in passing the measure, and lawmakers never passed a constitutionally required revenue estimate to fund the budget that pays for abortions.
