Illinois Democrats turn up heat on Rauner with bill that would expand taxpayer-funded abortions

April 26--House Democrats on Tuesday approved a controversial bill that would expand the availability of taxpayer-funded abortions in Illinois, putting Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in the politically difficult spot of following through on his pledge to veto it.

The 62-55 vote came amid the fanfare of a women's march and rally at the Capitol that had all the markings of the annual Democrat Day celebration at the State Fair, complete with the requisite sign waving and Republican bashing by legislative leaders and candidates seeking to defeat Rauner in next year's election.

Hundreds gathered in front of the Capitol, many wearing pink or sporting the pink hats made famous during the national women's marches in January. Protesters wrote "Gov, do your job" on the street facing Rauner's office, and marchers waved colorful signs saying "Her body, her choice" and "If uteri shot bullets, they wouldn't get regulated!"

Inside the House, lawmakers spent more than two hours debating the measure, which would allow women to use Medicaid coverage and state employee health insurance for abortions. Democrats said the plan also would help ensure abortion remains legal in Illinois if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court by removing a so-called "trigger provision" in current law.

Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago recounted her fight with infertility, joyous when she found out she was pregnant, only to be told the fetus didn't have a heartbeat. Cassidy said her doctor recommended an abortion. Cassidy, a Cook County employee at the time, said she didn't have to worry if she could have the procedure because insurance covered it.

"I was able to utilize the method that allowed me to become pregnant within six weeks with my beloved eldest son and go on and have the other two boys," Cassidy said. "Without access to safe, legal abortion that preserved my fertility, preserved my life, they wouldn't be here."

The Rauner-funded Illinois Republican Party questioned the bill's cost, and many GOP legislators expressed general opposition to abortion, citing everything from religious text to scientific studies about when life starts in the womb.

Republican Rep. Tom Morrison of Palatine suggested the bill would force to the state to pay for abortions that may occur because parents don't approve of the sex of the fetus. He also drew a line between abortion and racial issues.

"But no, we're not going to recognize that right to those who can't speak today. They're too small, they're too weak," Morrison said. "And besides, seven U.S. Supreme Court judges said it was legal, so that must make it OK. Just like they said in 1857 when they declared that former slave Dred Scott was not a legal person either."

Rep. Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago, called Morrison's comments "the most ignorant and possibly racist thing I've heard in this General Assembly." Mitchell also said they don't reflect the voting record of Morrison and other Republicans.

"You want to make a comparison between slavery and segregation and the Supreme Court and all of the things that your party has historically stood against, but today, on this bill, suddenly you're a liberal," Mitchell said. "You must be outside of your mind."

The measure now heads to the Senate, where President John Cullerton has said his more liberal-leaning members are prepared to pass it. If Rauner follows through on his veto pledge, the House is unlikely to override him. It takes 71 votes to do so, but there are 67 Democrats.

All but one Republican voted against the bill, and that lawmaker was listed as an excused absence. Five Downstate Democrats, including three from the Metro East area near St. Louis, voted against the bill. Each of them may be targeted for defeat by the GOP next year, and socially conservative votes may help them in their races.

The abortion bill has emerged as an early flash point in the 2018 race for governor, following Rauner's promise this month to Republican lawmakers that he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

Rauner's stance won praise from socially conservative groups who have been angered by some of his other actions, including his approval of a law last year that requires doctors who oppose abortion to refer patients to providers who will perform the procedure. But the position could hurt Rauner next year with a key election voting demographic: suburban women who lean Republican but have socially moderate views.

Indeed, abortion rights groups were quick to deem Rauner's opposition a betrayal of voters who previously supported Rauner, noting he frequently declared he had "no social agenda" while on the campaign trail in 2014. Political action group Personal PAC took the rare step of releasing a previously confidential candidate questionnaire from that race in which Rauner expressed support for the ideas contained in the legislation he now opposes.

Rauner, who was away from the Capitol to tour a Beer Nuts plant in Bloomington, has declined to explain his shifting position, saying that expanding taxpayer funding for abortions is a "very divisive issue."

Democrats, sensing a political opportunity, seized on the wave of opposition to President Donald Trump, whose Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch took the bench this month, sparking fears among abortion rights supports that the court could overturn the landmark 1973 case that established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

Before Tuesday's vote, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan addressed the crowd of mostly women gathered outside the Capitol, saying the outcome "will be a clear litmus test as to who supports reproductive rights and who does not."

For its part, the governor's office put together a web video featuring eight of his top aides, including seven women. The aides, whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, talked up the governor's record on issues on family planning, women's rights and diversity.

A second video featured Felicia Norwood, Rauner's director of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, offering the administration's view on the legislation. Norwood said Rauner would sign a bill that contained just the trigger provision, but "that request went unanswered."

"Because expanding taxpayer funding of abortion is an extremely divisive issue, Gov. Rauner says he will veto House Bill 40," said Norwood, who did not address Rauner's earlier position during the three-minute video. "The administration does not support expanding taxpayer funding for elective procedures."

Sponsoring Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, said a day earlier that she would not alter the legislation and leave women who are insured by the state "in the dust."

Feigenholtz and Cassidy are featured in a web ad from Personal PAC in which they hold up rolls of duct tape and say Rauner needs to stick to his word on abortion. Rauner has been on the air for weeks in an early re-election ad in which he uses duct tape as a prop as part of his message that state government needs permanent fixes, not temporary ones.

The video closes with an image of Rauner with duct tape over his mouth. That's a callback to last month's flap in which WGN radio host Steve Cochran was interviewing Rauner and suggested that the governor "take some of that duct tape you are working with and put it over" the mouth of Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Rauner critic.

Days later, Mendoza called on Rauner and Cochran to apologize "for the millions of women who've been victims of violence or sexual abuse." Rauner's political team pushed back. Cochran apologized, saying he "chose his words poorly," then later took to the air to accuse Mendoza of blowing the issue out of proportion by staging a news conference "for potential political gain."

Protesters doubled up on the rallies. Following the outdoor one, the five announced Democratic candidates for governor lined up in the Capitol to rotunda to bash Rauner, comparing him to Trump and saying it was time to fight against the unraveling of the progressive agenda. The would-be Rauner challengers said they were fighting in solidarity with their wives, mothers and daughters, calling for passage of the abortion bill that was being debated several floors above.

"The thing about Bruce Rauner and Donald Trump is they like to turn us against each other," said Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th. "We have to fight, we have to unite, and we have to resist."

Businessman Chris Kennedy said Rauner was waging a "war against women," saying his refusal to strike a budget deal with Democrats has hit women the hardest, saying they rely on child care, social services and education programs. Other candidates who spoke included billionaire investor J.B. Pritzker, Evanston state Sen. Daniel Biss and Downstate school superintendent Bob Daiber.

Illustrating that Tuesday's vote was about politics as much as policy, Mayor Rahm Emanuel questioned whether Rauner can be trusted to keep his word on a wide range of issues.

"When it comes to the issue of choice and health for everybody, the governor when he was a candidate took a position...that was clear and defined, and he's now flipped on that," Emanuel said after an event to announce the construction of a new grocery store in West Woodlawn.

Emanuel also contended that Rauner went back on his word to provide Chicago Public Schools with $215 million in additional pension funding -- although Rauner has said it was Democrats who didn't come through on a broader deal to reform the state's pension system -- and initially balked at a bill that would have helped the renewable energy industry that the governor said he supported.

"I think it goes to an issue of trust and veracity of somebody's word when they give it to you," Emanuel said.

Chicago Tribune's Hal Dardick contributed from Chicago.

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